Ted, Susan and Max On the Road

Catch up Blog!

2012-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

I'm way behind in blogging! We are still in San Diego at Pio Pico and have a little cell/internet service. We can text and we can do some internet stuff! Can't open large files and everything is very slow.

Our slide seems to be fixed and we are thankful for that! We've been visiting with friends, movies, cards and great dinners. We saw the movie the Descendants the other day and enjoyed it. The scenery and music were really beautiful. I didn't care for the kids in the beginning but by the end they won me over!

Yesterday we visited friends up in Rainbow. Our friend Sally bought a house up there and we met friends David and Carol and their daughter Sophie and her friend Maddie. David barbecued steak, ham and vegetables for us. It was a fun visit and to see the progress Sally has made on her property. Shes got her plants and vegetables started, a couple of her horses housed, some rescued chickens and her sweet lab, Mac!

Today we are going to hang out with Max at the campground! It's cloudy and seems like a good day to stay home.

We will be in San Diego until the 21st and then we will be going up to Fresno for a couple of days to see how Craig and Claire's house is coming along!

Relaxing at home..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Slide issue is finally resolved!

2012-02-06T16:23:00.001-08:00

On Thursday the parts came in for slide out. Finally at 3:00 on Friday Dave tries to bring in/out the slide! It's about 1/4" to tall. Apparently they changed the rollers after 2006! So off to Pio Pico we went for the weekend. Of course on the drive there the slide fell into place! And of course we couldn't get it out. Long story short, we came back today and they have resolved the problem while we went over to the Galley and had a nice lunch with Jeri and Stach! And even had a Mimosa!

We are heading back to Pio Pico. Park is really full so we will have to get on the crossover list. Will not have Internet or cell until we move to south side, if then!

Happy to have slide fixed.. "Ain't Life Grand!"

Pio Pico?

2012-02-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

We hope to be at Pio Pico some time this afternoon. They have the rollers replaced and have fixed the bottom of the slide that the rollers damaged and are working on rebuilding the box that holds storage and our bed!

Pio Pico is pretty full with snow birds and a big billiards tourney that is going on. This means we will be on the north side without sewer until we can cross over to the south side, probably Monday or Tuesday! We will also have little or no cell/internet service so be patient with us if we don't answer calls or emails right away. We usually go out every day so I check my email and we both can return phone calls and texts. Ted checks his email on the computer so may take longer!

I did the blog over my phone the last couple of times so couldn't add pictures so thought I'd add a couple now!

Della and Susan at Snooze (home of the former Corvette Diner). Ted and Jim are in the next picture. Very good restaurant, highly recommend it!

The very old Banyon tree in Balboa Park, over 100 years old!

Spent the afternoon strolling through Spanish Village after our delicious lunch at Snooze!

Being back in San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Having fun in San Diego!

2012-02-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to see the play "Eternal Reach" at Horizon High School. Our friends' Jeri and Stach's son directed the play. Tony has been involved with drama since high school and has donated time to Madison High's drama dept. It was an intense play. He really got a lot out of the four kids that were in the play. They have been asked to bring the play to other venues. We are very proud of Tony and the kids!

On Monday we brought the RV to get the bed slide fixed. We are "parking lot camping" until probably Friday!

On Tuesday we met our friend Peggy for a movie and dinner. We saw the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. It is very intense, but I enjoyed it. The books were rely good.

Today we met our friends Jim and Della for lunch. We went to Snooze. I didn't know that the Corvette Diner moved to La Jolla and Snooze took its place. It is really cute and the food is really good. I had red velvet pancakes! They were delicious! After lunch we stopped by Bread and Cie and brought home dessert! Next we went over to Balboa Park and walked around Spanish Village. We looked in the shops, enjoyed the beautiful weather and walked off some of our lunch!

We left Jim and Della, fed and walked Max and then took off for Horizon High School. The basketball coach had heard Mallorie (Jeri's granddaughter) sing at her school talent show and asked her to sing the National Anthem at the start of the Varsity team basketball game! She was very nervous and had a small problem at one part, but really did a beautiful job! We were really proud of her! After she sang we watched a few minutes of the game and then we went out for Chinese food!

A beautiful young woman singing the National Anthem..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Yuma!

2012-01-29T05:42:00.000-08:00

We made it to Yuma Friday afternoon. We are at Yuma Lakes, one of our Colorado River Adventures membership parks. We had not been here before. It's a huge park and they seem to have a lot of activities. Yesterday they had their craft sale. We bought some peach jelly and I bought a new lipstick to try. I needed to get my nails done so Ted went with me into Yuma and then we had lunch at Cracker Barrel.

It's pretty windy here and we are up early this morning to get on the road before the wind starts again. We are going to spend the night at the Chula Vista Marina campground. It's right down the street from South Coast Rv where we are checking in tomorrow to repair our bed slide! We think we will be there three or four days. The rollers need to be replaced before they tear up the wood frame and they will be coming from Indiana!

Almost to San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Lordsburg, New Mexico

2012-01-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

We made it to Lordsburg this afternoon about 4:30. It was a long drive that we've made several times. Today there was one difference, there was actually snow on the ground and on the mountains east of Van Horn. Not sure what the elevation was but it was around 49 degrees and sunny with snow! It was a surprise to me that it hadn't melted right away! Tomorrow night we will try to make it to Yuma, another long day!

Enjoying the snow from inside the warm truck..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ft Stockton Tx

2012-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

We left Medina Lake this morning and stopped by Class A RV to see if the refrigerator people figured out why our refrigerator stops working when it gets below 35 degrees. They checked the wiring and found it ok. So that wasn't the problem.

We headed west on I-10, it was about 59 degrees. As we were going along, it started raining and started getting colder. After 3 hours I started to drive and it was raining harder and getting colder. It got down to 35 and the rain turned to slush. It was really noisy and then it was 33 degrees and snowing! It got really quiet and we could see the snow coming down. It was even sticking on the ground. Fortunately it warmed back up to 36.

We got to Ft. Stockton about 5:30. The KOA campground here has a cafe with a menu of six items. I had the ribs and they were delicious! It's still raining and the 3 of us are sitting in bed watching tv with the furnace running like crazy !
thank goodness!

Warm and dry...Ain't Life Grand!"

Raining in Texas!

2012-01-24T10:40:00.001-08:00

It's raining here and tomorrow, the day we leave it will probably be a downpour! We have to stop at the RV repair shop on our way out of town so they can try one last time to fix our refrigerator. We are heading to San Diego by next Monday. We will also stop at the RV repair shop in Chula Vista to have our bed slide fixed before heading to Pio Pico! We'll see how that goes!

We've had lot of fun in Texas but always look forward to getting back to San Diego!

Heading to San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Guenther House!

2012-01-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last night was dinner at Hungry Horse in Boerne where they give you way too much food! After dinner we headed home for cards. This time I was the big winner after being ahead and then dropping behind!

On Saturday we went to the Guenther House. I call it the home of those yummy sweet cream pancakes that I love! The family have owned and operated the Pioneer Flour Mill since the mid 1800's! The family home is a restaurant, museum and gift shop. We had a great lunch with John and Gloria and Pam and Jon. I had the sweet cream waffle. Gloria had a cup of soup and shared her huge cinnamon roll with everyone! The bread for the sandwiches was baked fresh daily and delicious! We all enjoyed our lunch and wandering the house and grounds right next to the river!

After lunch we went to see Red Tails. We all enjoyed the movie (two tissues for me)! Ted thought they should have put in the movie the reason they allowed the Negroes to even be allowed to train to become pilots, which was because of Eleanor Roosevelt. They also didn't talk about how many of the pilots were killed and how many missions they actually went on but he still enjoyed the movie.

We managed to eat some soup for dinner and Gloria finally won at cards!

Yesterday we met our friend Laura and headed out to Welfare, Texas which is north of Boerne about 20 miles. It is hill country and we went to the Welfare Cafe and Goat Barn is in the middle of nowhere! The town of Welfare began when the railroad built a line from San Antonio to Kerrville in the 1950's. The post office burned down in 1916 but was rebuilt. In 1978 the post office closed its doors and reopened 20 years later as a general store the couple tried to restore the heritage of Welfare. At some point it became a cute little restaurant with wonderful food! The owner is the Chef, but did not have her bio on the website.

We had ordered and one of the patrons was asking how his pork shoulder was cooked and the Chef actually told him. We were obviously interested and asked a few questions. Next thing we know, we had a sample of the pork along with the dips which were a jalapeno pesto, mango salsa and a Korean sauce. Needless to say they were all spicy and I thought the pork was really delicious just as it was! I had grits that were the best ever. I thought they were scrambled eggs but they were made with corn meal and had Parmesan cheese in them. Very yummy. Laura had apple pancakes and the apple was cooked in the pancake not just plopped on top! She said they were great. Lucy is the resident dog and sort of wandered in and out but was never a pest and very sweet!

When we left we walked out back. They have a large event center with two outdoor patios, one next to the restaurant and one by the event center. The event center was open so we walked around. They have a fireplace, a small stage and upper area with a bar and beautiful wood throughout. The outside patio also had a small stage and I imagine it is a fun place when the weather is nice! We will definitely go back again!

After brunch we took a ride through the hill country back to Boerne and to John and Gloria's. We had dropped off Max before meeting Laura. We watched the two football playoff games and had another wonderful meal with them. John had cooked ribs for us and they were really delicious! I really liked his sauce and the meat just fell off the bones. Of course Gloria made a yummy dessert! Wow, full again!

Having two funfilled days with friends and family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still hanging!

2012-01-19T09:42:00.001-08:00

Got all the laundry done! Eight loads including Max's blankets and towels and jackets! We are all clean!

Had dinner with john and Gloria last night and played Phase 10! Ted pulled off a big win overcoming John and I by just a few points! We usually come home after dark from John and Gloria's about 25 miles. It's scary because it is a dark 2 lane road and there are a lot of deer. Ted's thinking we need to get a deer guard or stay at the campground in town. With the cost of diesel it will probably be more cost effective to stay in town! A lot better than worrying about hitting a deer!

Thankful we haven't hit a deer..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sunny again!

2012-01-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was drizzly but warmer so the refrigerator worked fine! We were headed to San Antonio to meet friends Pam and Jon and introduce them to Gloria and John. A semi driver fell asleep hit the center divide and veered off, hit a car and flipped over across I-10 fwy and caused a huge traffic jam. We turned around and went back and had John's yummy Belgium waffles! In the afternoon we ventured out to look at barstools. They didn't find anything so we headed back and played a game of Mexican Train! It was a good game with Ted and John competing for the win, back and forth like a ping pong ball! John won by 3 points taking 1st place from Ted! Meanwhile Gloria and I vied for last place! It was a fun day and we headed home after eating some leftovers!

Today we are staying home, need to get laundry done and some other chores!

Hanging out, playing games and eating..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Lots of shopping!

2012-01-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Max got his hair cut and looks very handsome and cooler! Wednesday night after dinner at Gloria's house we played Mexican Train dominoes and I won!

On Thursday after dinner on Gloria's new kitchen table, we played dominoes again and this time John wiped the floor with us! He catches on fast!

On Friday the RV service man came out and replaced the circuit board in our furnace! Ahhhh heat again! The refrigerator still shuts off when it gets down to 32 degrees. Dometic claims that is the way it is supposed to work????? Two problems with that; one it didn't start doing that until this past December and it's 5 years old and two, it doesn't come back on automatically! You have to turn it off and on until it decides it is warm (11:00 a.m. because it's been so cold) enough outside to come back on! They are going to talk to Dometic again.

Friday afternoon we went shopping with John and Gloria. They had a list of things for the house they wanted to find. We also managed to find a couple of things to buy! We had dinner at Cracker Barrel. They like the Cod on Fridays. It is always good food. We got back too late to play cards but had some dessert (of course) before heading home!

On Saturday Boerne had its monthly craft show. More shopping! I bought some earrings made from orchid petals that were dipped in resin. They are really pretty. Gloria managed to find a couple of things for the house!

We came back to their house and had John's homemade beef vegetable soup and cornbread. Gloria and I then took off for some more shopping! We hit Ross, Home Goods, TJ Max, Target and World Market! I was pretty pooped and glad we were headed home after three hours! Gloria did find some things for the new house and I found a couple of birthday gifts so we were happy!

Today was a little drizzly and low 50's. We went to John and Gloria's for sloppy joes and Gloria's homemade apple pie (delicious) and played Pokeno and Phase 10. John won at Phase 10...again! We are home early tonight so had time to do the blog!

There are still a ton of deer around the campground and Ted managed to capture a picture of this buck who decided to pose for him!

Enjoying the animals at the campground..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting Laura Joann!

2012-01-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we met our friend Laura Joann for lunch at the Bear Moon Bakery in Boerne. I had the quiche and it was very fluffy and delicious! They have lots of desserts to drool over! After lunch we followed Laura out east about 10 miles to her place. We were going to use our truck to move her fifth wheel for her. She has a couple of acres and has been slowly building a house. She got the fifth wheel to live in for the time being. She has added some sheep and goats, but had to put a couple of her older dogs down in the past year. We had a good visit and got her RV moved and leveled.

Today we took Max to Heloites to get groomed. With his bad leg it will probably be pretty trumatic for him but he really needed to be groomed. Ted and I are working on some projects. After I finish the blog I will defrost the freezer and Ted's fixing one of our window boxes. They loosen with all the traveling and then some times he has to make new holes because they just won't hold any more!

Tonight is dinner with John and Gloria and I think we are going to play Mexican Train dominoes! Will let you know who wins!

Grooming, chores and dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting downtown Boerne

2012-01-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we met our friends Pam and John Pullen, San Antonio transplants from San Diego, at the Cypress Grill for lunch in downtown Boerne. The restaurant has really nice atmosphere and we all enjoyed our lunch. After lunch we strolled through a small part of town venturing in some of the shops! It was a delightful afternoon even though the sky was gray and it was a bit chilly!

After shopping we went over to John and Gloria's for cards and a bite of dinner. Ted won Phase 10 so Gloria should win the next time we play!

Ted and I are relaxing this morning. Ted's on the computer checking out cruises as I blog. We've had rain off and on through the night and this morning so dreary and kind of chilly!

A lazy morning..."Ain't Life Grand!"

In Boerne, Texas

2012-01-08T06:47:00.001-08:00

On Thursday we drove west and straight to the RV repair shop in Pipe Creek (halfway between Boerne and our campground). They figured out why our refrigerator would turn off at 32 degrees. It had to do with a thermostat inside the refrigerator. Now we will have to wait until it gets cold again to see if the problem is fixed! They also figured out what was wrong with our furnace and ordered a new circuit board. Hopefully they will bring out the part next week and we'll be back in business!

On Friday we took Max to the vet again for his limping, clicking leg. He has a torn ACL in his knee which is never going to get better. It doesn't seem to hurt and he's made his own adjustments (hence the limp). Now we have to try and make sure his other leg stays strong so he can support himself. He looks pretty pitiful, poor puppy.

We had dinner at Ted's cousins' home on Friday night. Her daughter and her family came over for dinner and and we had a fun evening! After dinner I won at Phase 10, beating Ted, John and Gloria.

Yesterday we went with John and Gloria to Chris Madrid's for lunch and dinner. It's a great hamburger place which is not in the best part of town in San Antonio but very popular! Their nachos are thin and really good covered in cheese and beans. The cheeseburgers are really big and really good, done but juicy. We got a basket of fries for the four of us and had left overs. It is always packed but they have it figured out and the wait usually isn't long!

To walk off our lunch/dinner we went to Trader Village. It was a beautiful sunny day to walk the huge flea market. Vendors rent space and sell new things and there is an area that is like a yard sale the individuals can rent space to sell their used things. We didn't buy too much but the walk was good for us! We left there and went to Rooms To Go furniture store. John and Gloria decided to buy a dining room set they had seen there for their new house! Since they had a huge sectional with recliners that vibrated Ted, Gloria and I hung out while John took care of ordering the table! We left there to drive around the world through the hill country to pick up Max and head back to their house for apple cake (made by John) and Phase 10. This time John was the big winner!

A great day in Texas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Columbus, TX

2012-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

We had breakfast with the gang yesterday morning and then most of us left for parts unknown! We went west back to Columbia, Tx. Our campground is right on the Colorado River. There are about 6 sites that back right up to the river and we were lucky enough to get one. The river is pretty dry but it's still fun to see the fog on the river in the morning and lots of little baby ducks. It was 30 degrees this morning when I walked Max (but so far no mosquitos thank God)! The campground is full of Pecan trees but there was no rain last summer so the trees have no pecans. A lady told me that last year they had tons of pecans!

There are lots of deer in the campground, this one was keeping an eye on Max and I.

Today we drove in to town to have lunch at one of the barbecue restaurants. My ribs were really tender and the sauce was good but not great! We drove into the historic district and saw the Opera House. They have concerts one a month, special events, weddings and more.

On one side of the square there are some shops (we didn't find any shops to visit):

Across from the Opera House is the old Water Tower which is now the Daughters of the Confederate Museum.

Enjoying the local scenery..."Ain't Life Grand"!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great time with the Traveling Supremes bringing in the New Year! We had a chili cook off (and for the wimps like me we had Potato and Beef Vegetable Soups)! Of course we had corn bread and for dessert we had very yummy creme brulee. We've definitely eaten like Kings and Queens this week!

Around 8:00 p.m. they started the entertainment! Ardis was the Master of Ceremonies and members of the group were the performers. It was really entertaining! They started off with a song sung by Barbara and Polk. Next was a reading. Marie told a story about the training her mother gave her on "public restrooms". It was hysterical and every woman has been there. Patsy Cline (aka Rosalyn) sang a song, I think it was "She's got You" and pulled things out of her blouse...again sooo funny! There was a skit by Judy and Mike. Mike was a judge on his first case and Judy was a woman who had been humiliated having a mammogram. Again, every woman has been there, so funny! There was a skit of old people in a nursing home (and they were dressed for the part) and the nurse brought them a new pill because the doctor thought they had been depressed. It was viagra and they really kicked up their heels! Next was a judging of a chili cookoff (not the ones our ladies made). There were 3 judges and 1 of them was from Michigan because the Texas judge called in sick at the last moment. I have never heard Ted laugh so hard. As the chili recipes got hotter, the third judge drank more beer and was more descriptive of the problems he was having eating the HOT stuff! They really played their parts well!

Next was a tribute to America and the soldiers and veterans of the many wars America has been involved in. It was all very touching. John Branndon sang America and the National Anthymn and did such a wonderful job!

After the entertainment came the gift exchange! We had all brought a food/drink item valued at $10. It could even be homemade! Ted and I ended up with a fruit cake which we gave away since we don't eat them but kept the much less healthy chocolate truffles! They are delicious! This was a different way to do the gift exchange. We picked a gift one by one and could steal up to 2 additional times, but we never opened the gift until it was all done! It was fun and with almost 40 gifts did go alot faster that way!

We were all done by about 10:30 and many of us left for our homes to bring in the New Year (or go to bed). We actually stayed up to midnight!

My friend Jeri posted this on Facebook. I thought it was cool:

Happy New Year..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Traveling Supremes Highland Tx Rally

2011-12-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

On Thursday Ted and I drove north on I-59 to meet up with my stepsister, Carol. She took us to the Senior Center for lunch and bingo. The bingo hall was packed and pretty much everyone wins something! They played 3 games of bingo that each had about 100 winners! I think Carol won 5 or 6 bingos, Ted and I each won one! Our prizes: Oxy Clean Rug Cleaner and Jiffy Banana Muffin Mix! Then for good measure we won a cake and so did Carol. We took them to dinner Friday night! I forced Carol to have her picture taken with us and she finally agreed. I couldn't believe how much more she looked like her Dad than the last time we saw her!

Thursday night we went to the Monument Inn for dinner as a group of 10. We had to cross the river on a ferry to get there. It was a short ferry ride and I was nervous because we barely fit, but they put up the wall behind us and everything was ok! I had baked shrimp, stuffed with crab and covered with a white wine sauce...delicious! Ted had the beef kababs (no surprise since he's not crazy about fish)! The ferry stopped running so we took the long way home!

On Friday after I got my nails done; Ted, Max and I took off for Galveston. It took us about an hour to get there. It is a nice drive around the island.

Part of the pier taken out by the hurricane

We got back to the campground in time for picture taking and the best beef brisket I think I've ever had! It was delicious. Everyone made side dishes and desserts and we were sure stuffed when we left there! We watched a movie about the Battleship Texas which we were going to tour on Saturday and there were card and Mexican Train games going on.

Saturday morning we awoke to big time fog but were able to get to the Battleship Texas where it is moored. We had a group of about 25 that were going to do the tour and so Texas Parks provided us with two rangers to show us around and tell us about the ship. It was an important ship, launched in 1914 and in WWI and WWII. It was the first battleship and they designed it to have a high bow and then go downhill to the stern. That didn't work out so well so they only made a few with that design. She had 14-inch ammunition which was large for that time. She was also the first ship to launch an airplane from her deck! It was an interesting tour. There was one big problem, the area was thick with huge Texas size mosquitos! We didn't want to tour the engine room because they were thick down there!

Ted and Dave and the Battleship Texas (in the fog)

"The Big Guns"

This is where the enlisted men bunk!

John playing with the guns!

After our tour we went to lunch and home to rest before bringing in the New Year!

Bringing in the New Year..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The road to Highland, Tx

2011-12-28T10:32:00.001-08:00

Before going over to Dan and Cheryl's for breakfast, Max opened his presents. He loved them all and had a great time opening them! Breakfast was delicious and then we watched the kids open their presents. They were all happy with their gifts! Then everyone else opened gifts. They had a really soft luscious (marshmallow) throw for me and a teapot with cups and some green tea for Ted. They surprised us with these very nice gifts.

We came home to relax and spend some time with Max before going back for dinner. They had cooked prime rib and a turkey, and of course all of the trimmings. We had a delicious dinner. The ladies, including Olivia and Haley played Phase 10 for awhile until we all decided it was time to go home and rest. It was a great day!

Monday morning we left Boerne and went east on I-10. We were going to spend the night in Columbus, Tx on the Colorado River. This is one of our membership campgrounds that we had not been to and was about half way to our destination for the rally in Highland, Tx. We had a spot right on the river. It is really a nice quiet campground and we will enjoy spending three nights there on the way back. There were lots of deer around and great places to walk the dog!

On Tuesday we had a two hour drive to Highland. There are about 25 RV's attending the rally. We are camping on the San Jacinto River. It's a nice campground with a great view of the river!

We had dinner with a group at Iguana Joes last night. Had a good meal and talked to several people we had not seen for awhile. It was a fun evening!

This afternoon we went to the Port of Houston and took a free ride on a boat tour of a harbor tour! They saved 16 spaces for us. We were not allowed to take any pictures at the direction of Homeland Security. But we did take some in the parking lot before boarding the boat. They served coffee or a soda and took us about 7 miles each way. It was an interesting tour.

Going new places and seeing new things..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Boerne!

2011-12-24T08:04:00.001-08:00

We got into Boerne Thursday afternoon and it was still daylight! Fortunately it was a good 4 day trip without incident, although long days and arriving after dark. After we got set up we headed over to see Ted's cousin Gloria and her husband John. They are in their brand new home. They were able to select the lot and have a huge corner property and behind them should stay somewhat of a wilderness area. They selected beautiful flooring, countertops etc. They did a great job and have really done a lot in only a month! Gloria made some sandwiches, veggies and chips since they didn't know what time we would get in! We also had a nice visit with their daughter Cheryl and three grand kids.

Yesterday we went to Bass Pro shop to meet California transplants, Pam and Jon. We had lunch and did some shopping. It's cold here and supposed to rain so I got a new raincoat and Ted and I both got some warm gloves! We had a good visit with Pam and Jon!

Can't get my pictures to download this morning so will add them later!

Right after they moved in the new house, Gloria went to Illinois to visit her mom, Wanda, who was not doing well. Wanda passed away yesterday so Gloria and John will leave on Monday for the funeral. Wanda was a sweet, fun woman and Ted and I always enjoyed visiting her these last few years. This is better for her but she will be missed.

Today we are having Christmas Eve dinner at John and Gloria's and Dan and Cheryl and their three kids! Tomorrow will be Christmas dinner at Dan and Cheryl's where there is always lots and lots of food of all kinds! She mentioned prime rib and turkey!

Ted and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy, happy New Year!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

On the road again!

2011-12-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Craig and Claire should have keys to their new house Wednesday or Thursday! They are already scheduling workers for floor, carpeting and wallpaper. They want to get as much done as possible and move in before they have to start school again!

We finally took off about 11:00 and made it to the Colorado River in Needles. We got here about 7:00 and only opened our bed slide. We went over to the Arizona side for fuel $3.72 for diesel. In Needles it's $4.10 to $5.00 per gallon. Since we were out we stopped at the Avi for dinner and a 1/2 hour of gambling. Left our deposit.

Have to get ready to leave...more later!

Happy for the kids..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Craig & Claire's Great House!

2011-12-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

This morning Ted and I took off to have a good breakfast in preparation of the manual labor Craig and Claire were going to assign to us...lol! We were saved! Since it was 10:00 and we were to be at the new house at 1:00, we all went to look around Home Depot instead! They picked up some paint samples and Claire found a light to replace the dining room chandelier that is supposed to be taken by the seller. We had fun looking around with them and then headed to see the house!

The house is 2500 square feet, 3 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths, living room, formal dining room, den/office, breakfast nook, kitchen and laundry area. It is a one level ranch style house. The house is in great condition considering it was built in 1955 and has not been remodeled. Craig and Claire will have a lot of fun with it. They plan to have all of the "dated" wallpaper removed, paint, new flooring and new carpet before they move in. It has a two car garage and a very large lot. It has a new fence in the back yard. They also will be putting in a new air conditioner. FHA only requires that it has heat and the forced air furnace works great (it was cold today and house warmed right up), but the water cooled unit doesn't work!

Here are some pictures:

Craig's best man, Nate and his girlfriend, Jessica, joined us at the house!

Happy for Craig and Claire..."Ain't Life Grand!"

House papers to be signed Monday!

2011-12-16T20:16:00.001-08:00

The lender for Craig and Claire's home phoned this afternoon and we are schedule to sign loan documents Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. That is good news because we were almost positive they were going to be held up. The lender has been great to work with and has really worked hard to push it through. The house should close some time next week. We are going to see the inside of the house tomorrow! We will head out of town after docs are signed.

We had lunch with Craig and Stephen today. Stephen finished finals Thursday and he's excited! Today he was volunteering at the High School he attended, Buchanan, as a wrestling assistant for a tournament. Craig and Claire have been busy at work and after work with parties and dinners. When they are in school they just don't have time to do anything but work, school and study so all of their friends want to see them and they are having fun! We still haven't seen Chip and as assistant wrestling coach at Madera High School, they took off yesterday for Las Vegas for a weekend tournament, so chances are we won't see him this time around :(

In the morning we are going to help Craig and Claire organize some of their stuff for the move before heading over to see the house. We'll be their worker bees!

Loans done on schedule..."Ain't Life Grand!" (hope I didn't jinx it)!

This and That!

2011-12-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

We've been enjoying ourselves in Fresno. We've gotten most of our Christmas shopping done, we've had some meals with the kids and spent some time up at Chukchansi yesterday! It wasn't a profitable meeting at Chukchansi but we played for several hours and had a nice lunch and drive! Ted's also been working on hooking upa replacement amplifier/tuner for our built in surround sound. It's working for some things but not for everything!

We thought we were going to see the inside of Craig's house but unfortunately the realtor had to cancel so we have to wait until this weekend. We did have dinner with Craig and Claire and Stephen and Marissa Sunday night. Marissa has left for Missouri to spend some time with her Mom's family, so we were happy to have a chance to visit with her.

We are still waiting to see when Craig and Claire's house will close. They are shooting for Monday but the underwriter needed a couple of things so it may hold it up. We have to figure out if we are going to leave Monday as scheduled and sign from some place on the road or stay here in Fresno. Just not sure yet.

On Sunday Craig, Claire, Chip and Stephen had some pictures taken. Here are a couple of the pictures:

Ten days before Christmas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Dinner at the Tuttle's!

2011-12-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

Last night we enjoyed a great dinner and evening at Claire's parents, Ernie and Linda. They also invited one of Craig's law partners' (and very good friend) Kim and her husband Don and their son Trey. Stephen made it to dinner and of course Craig and Claire. Chip had a wrestling tournament, he is the assistant wrestling coach at Madera High School. Linda made a great pot roast, Claire made a delicious Risotto that she said was easy and Kim brought a great salad with a yummy homemade Champagne vinaigrette dressing! We brought a cake from the bakery and it was delectable! It was a very nice evening.

Stephen has really turned into a man this past few months. He is no longer that skinny little kid. He has filled out and is very handsome! He won't be embarrassed because he doesn't read the blog!

I did forget to take pictures...shame on me! There will be more chances for pictures!

Good food, good friends and family..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Time with Craig

2011-12-10T09:48:00.001-08:00

We got to Fresno Thursday afternoon and rushed over to Craig and Claire's lender. We are co-signers on the loan for their new home and needed to sign some papers. We are hoping they will close next Friday but it may not be until Monday. It would give them an extra weekend to move in if it closes on Friday. Everything is falling in place so hopefully it will work out.

The lender is right down the street from Craig's work and we knew he was still there so we headed over. We had a bunch of mail waiting for us so picked it up and found Craig was available for dinner. There is a bar/restaurant within walking distance of his office, the Elbow Room and so we had wine and dinner with him. Claire was getting her hair done for Craig's office Christmas party which was last night. I asked Craig to text me a picture of the two of them all ready for the party!

Tonight is dinner at Ernie and Linda's (Claire's parents). We are bringing desert which Craig ordered for us from the bakery where he worked when he was in High School! Chip and Stephen will be there with dates and I believe Claire's brother and family may be down from Sacramento as well. It will be a lot of fun. I hope to have some pictures tomorrow!

A very happy nephew..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying Sacramento!

2011-12-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

We arrived here in Sacramento on Monday afternoon. We thought we were going to have to have an RV repair service out immediately for our refrigerator which was out again in the morning, but then it started working again! We think we have figured out a pattern with it. Every night when it gets down in the low 30's it stops working. Then in the morning around 8:30 when it starts warming up (to the 50's) outside we can get it to come back on. It is so strange but think we will wait until we get to Fresno to see about getting it checked out.

Vicky sent out a picture of the group from the Atwater weekend, taken by her granddaughter which turned out much better than the ones I had taken, so I'm adding this picture:

Yesterday we visited our friends Joel and Lale' that live here in Sacramento. Joel and Ted used to work together at the County of San Diego. They are having some medical issues right now but we had a good visit with them.

Today we visited Old Town Sacramento with one of Ted's classmates, Sharon Gillam. She is in the above picture, lower right in the pretty blue jacket. It was fun getting to know her better and after a nice lunch we did some shopping and we both found a couple of things to buy! There are nice shops, museums, the Sacramento River and the Train Station and museum, It's an interesting "old town"!

Tomorrow we leave here and head for Fresno. We will be there for 10 days visiting the "kids"!

Ready to visit "the kids"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

RLS Christmas Party 2011!

2011-12-04T21:19:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we waited and waited for the RV service guy who was "on his way over" about 11ish. I called at 1:00 and was told that he was on another call. Hmmm, that wasn't mentioned when I spoke to them at 10:00. Since our refrigerator had started working again I cancelled the repair guy and we got ready to go to the party.

The band was in full swing when we got there and sounded great! It was chilly but beautiful afternoon! There was even some dancing going on!

Craig (friend of Bob's) was busy making balloon art for the kids! He made a great Spiderman, Aliens, Santa hats and more!

There were tons of appetizers and drinks for all!

The band stopped at 6:00 and we had a fabulous feast! Duane's pulled pork cooked all day in a crock pot with apple juice and liquid smoke and was scrumptious! Everyone contributed and we had the best brussel sprouts I've ever had, Mexican slaw, potato salad, a great bean dish, a wild rice dish, a great salad and probably more that I can't remember! Everything was delicious.

After dinner and dishes, the gift exchange started! Della came with "her bells on" little elf shoes! Vicky drew number 1 and opened the first gift...a spiked dog collar and the fun began! There were some very nice gifts such as a platter, chip and dip set, flash light set, alcohol, RLS Starbuck glass and card, indoor/outdoor thermometer, candles and more! Mr. Dick Head (somewhat like Mr. Potato Head) made a comeback (unfortunately), Redneck Wine Glasses, a pig, emergency underwear, a dog that laughed and rolled around, a talking old guy and more! It was lots of fun. When it was all over we took our 2011 RLS group picture!

Of course there was dessert and we called it a night!

This morning we met for breakfast at the Almond Tree before everyone headed out for home. After breakfast we said our goodbyes!

Ted and I decided to stay in Atwater until tomorrow when we will go up to Sacramento for a few days before heading to Fresno. We had a restful afternoon!

The 2011 RLS Christmas party was a great success..."Ain't Life Grand!"

We are in Atwater, CA

2011-12-03T11:56:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Atwater on Thursday afternoon. I called my nephew when we were passing by Fresno. He asked how we were doing with the wind? What wind? He said it was extremely windy by his law office. A couple of minutes after we hung up we got to the wind! It was blowing pretty hard and we saw several Eucalyptus trees down along I-99. We had to slow way down but fortunately were able to safely keep going. After Fresno, wind died down and then started again close to Atwater. The wind stopped that night but it has really gotten cold! It was 32 this morning...yikes!

To top it off, our furnace stopped working! Our little fireplace can't keep up so the plan was to buy a small heater to help us keep warm until we could get to a larger city. And then....this morning the refrigerator stopped working????? What is going on. We played around with it and it wouldn't work on electric or gas. So we called a repair service (hard to find on Saturday) and then Ted switched the propane tanks to see if that would fix the furnace (even though we had plenty of gas to light to stove) and then the refrigerator started working again on electricity! We are still going to have them come out and still awaiting their arrival.

When we went to Murray Farms in Bakersfield, we found an interesting item. It is a Buddha's Hand! In Western cooking, it is used for zesting. It is less tart and pithy than regular lemons but has the skin (look) of the lemon (with fingers)! We bought one and brought it to our "gathering" in Atwater at Billy and Vicky Whited's house (Ted went to high school with Vicky, class of 64 and her husband Billy graduated in 1963). There are about 20 of us here for the weekend. We decided to see if anyone had ever seen a Buddha's Hand and give 5 scratch off tickets as a prize to anyone who knew what it was. Cathy, the date of one of Ted's classmates, figured out it was some sort of lemon so she won the prize!

They are pretty funny looking!

We had a fabulous spaghetti dinner last night made by Della Crownover with her husband Jim reheating the meatballs and cooking the spaghetti. Pat Gordon made her fabulous cheesy garlic bread and we brought a green salad. For dessert Sharon Gillam brought a great cheese cake sampler! There was plenty of good food to go around!

I took a few pictures of the group! I only got a few and then got too busy partying!

Vicky and Billy's dog, Thor, always enjoys dressing up for Christmas!

Sometimes we bring small gifts for each other. We usually pass them out after our gag/good gift exchange which will be on Saturday night after dinner. Since we have such a large group Ted and I passed ours out last night. I found santa and snowmen candy dishes for everyone and bags and bags of all type of candy. We had chocolate, non chocolate and sugar free Christmas candies that we pass around and they fill their candy dishes! It doesn't sound like it but it is a lot of fun! After that Jim and Della brought in their decorated jars of cookie mix for everyone. We got a jar of Chocolate Chip (Ted's favorite) and Gourmet Cookies (Della said they are yummy)! I'll have to see if I can bake them!

Today Vicky and Billy's son and some of his musician friends will bring over drums, guitars and amps and do some old time rock and roll for us. There are two or three different bands that actually come and play together. It is a lot of fun and I hope the service guy comes soon so we can get over there for it!

When things are going wrong with our RV, at least we have our friends and health..."Ain't Life Grand!"

In Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park

2011-11-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

We got to our campground yesterday. It was a bit foggy and a cold 51 degrees! The trees are full of oranges and are usually delicious, just hope they are ripe enough!

We are staying here again tonight and are going to go over to a fruit and nut store. I've been wanting to stop there to see what they have but didn't want to with RV! Trying to help support the local economy! Will keep you posted!

Picking oranges..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Heading back to central California tomorrow!

2011-11-28T17:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Ted and I went over to Red Rock Station Casino. I wanted to try their Vanilla Custard French Toast. The French Toast was soaked in vanilla custard and was delicious. We unsuccessfully gambled for a little while and headed home to watch the Chargers lose again! Loses all around!

Today we took Max back for a check up on his knee and hip. The vet watched him walk and said he needed to stay on the anti-inflammatory medicine. He has four more days and then will have to have a blood test to allow him to stay on the medicine and the vet said at "his advanced age - 10 1/2" he may have to stay on it forever. He is a lot better but we need to continue to keep him off of his leg as much as possible. We have to carry him up and down stairs...so much fun and of course it is all very expensive. I "assumed" the follow-up 5 minute look-see at him today would have been covered under the very expensive first visit but of course, it was not! It's just going to take time for him to heal, just like us old folks!

Tomorrow we leave Las Vegas and are headed for Atwater, California for a "Red Lips" gathering. We will get there on Thursday. It will be a weekend of good food, fun group and a great gift exchange!

Yummy French Toast..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Paris in Vegas!

2011-11-25T18:44:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday we took off and went over to the Red Rock Station Casino. We had a very nice brunch and did a little gambling. I had the most fun (meaning I was ahead), Jeri broke even and Ted lost just a little. Stach always finds the sports bar and enjoys watching football, baseball or soccer!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Jeri and Stach yesterday. We went over to the Red Rock Casino and Jeri and I had some good luck! Then we went back to Boulder Station for a delicious turkey dinner (and no dishes)!

Today we went over to the Paris Hotel. We made a reservation for lunch at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Then we took the Eiffel Tower tour to the top. It is half the height of the real Tower! It is a great view of the city and we watched the Bellagio water show below.

Jeri and Stach had invited their "adopted" son and his wife who live in Vegas to join us for lunch and we had a wonderful time. I enjoyed the Eiffel Tower drink with champagne and berries and can't remember what else but it was delicious! They started us off with a small cheese pastry. Next we had some type of cheese in a little cup. Our next course was a delicious creamy French Onion soup. My main course was a crepe filled with puréed artichoke and walnut bits with a tomato basil coulis. It was yummy! Jeri enjoyed crab stuffed French Toast with a creamy cocktail sauce. Everyone else selected more common items. The waiter brought us each a piece of mouth-watering chocolate candy to finish us off! It was very fun (and very French)!

We could see the Bellagio Water Show from our table, and since we had almost a three hour lunch (and for us our dinner) we saw it several times! Each time was a little different!

Before leaving the Paris Hotel we visited the Eiffel Tower gift shop. Ted and I got two Paris wine glasses and a new blouse for me! Such a fun day!

This morning Jeri and Stach left for San Diego. I'm catching up on washing and we're spending some time with Max! His knee/hip is doing better but it is trying to keep him from using it.

Enjoying Thanksgiving..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

2011-11-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

Our friends Jeri and Stach got here early Sunday afternoon. We met them at their hotel for lunch. Jeri and I had some gambling time while Stach and Ted went to the Sports Bar.

On Monday Ted and Stach drove over to Hoover Dam. They crossed the new bridge over to Arizona and then drove over the old bridge. They were surprised that there was no view from the new bridge because of the high sides. They took a look around the dam and then headed into Boulder for lunch.

Meanwhile, Jeri and I went to the nail place where I had a wonderful pedicure and Jeri got her nails done. We then went over to the Sunset Station Casino for lunch and some gambling time. We met the guys back at the hotel for dinner.

Yesterday we drove over to the strip (our RV campground is out on Boulder Highway about 15 mins. from the strip). We thought we were stopping at the Venetian but it was their counterpart the Palazzo Hotel. We were trying to see the "Winter Wonderland" at the Venetian but enjoyed seeing the Palazzo. They have a pretty lobby complete with elves! Stach found a cool Sports Bar with couches and pillows and lots of big screen tv's so he was happy watching sports while we were gambling. I came out a big winner and had lots of fun. Jeri and Ted didn't do too badly either.

Hotel Waterfall-pic taken by Stach

Ted and I came back and picked up Max to take him to the Vet. He had started limping and at first we thought he just slept on his back leg wrong but it didn't get better after a couple of days so took him in yesterday. His knee had a small tear in one of the muscles causing his knee to move around at the joint. His hip on the same leg was also slightly dislocated. Not sure when he did this but probably jumping off the chair or bed. He has medicine for the inflammation and one for pain. The real fun is trying to keep him from going up and down any of our many steps and keeping him quiet. The pain medicine is helping with that. The vet said they both should heal themselves. We take him back on Monday. Poor puppy!

Ted and I hope all our family and friends have a good Thanksgiving and remember..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Merry Christmas to me!

2011-11-19T22:03:00.001-08:00

Ted got me my Christmas present yesterday! I've been wanting a Smartphone (at least one smarter than my last phone). I just hope I didn't get one that is too smart! LOL! I got the IPhone 4S and so far so good. I really like it. The "Siri" feature is really great! My nephew Craig and his wife Claire have them and they really like them. Craig said he'd teach me a bunch of things when we see them in December. That will be fun!

This morning we went to the casino for breakfast and of course a little gambling. We didn't start off too well but then we started winning. Ted ended up winning $9 extra dollars and I lost $8 so we played for a couple of hours for free! That is always fun. I had one bonus of $88.00 on one machine! Too bad I didn't leave with it, I would have been way ahead!

Playing with my new phone..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-11-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

We left Cherry Valley on Sunday driving back down to San Diego for one night at Pio Pico. My friend Peggy came over and we went to dinner.

On Monday Morning we were up and out by 8:00 a.m. to South Coast RV to get our axle replaced. We have already had one replaced so we were expecting 3 - 4 hours. We took off to meet friends Jeri and Stach for breakfast at the Galley at the harbor in Chula Vista. It was a beautiful morning and we had a delightful breakfast sitting outside.   We then ran some errands stopping by Ideal Plumbing, the company I retired from and spoke with our property manager and friend, Melissa about our renters!

We got back to the shop in the early afternoon expecting to be able to get on the road! Unfortunately, they ran into a couple of problems and we think, got a bit sidetracked. They are more used to people bringing in their RV's and leaving them, not needing their beds!  Ted let them know we were not staying there over night and they finally got done around 6:00 p.m. We got up to Wilderness Lakes about 7:30 p.m.  Thankfully we had no problems with the new axle. Ted thinks they might not have bled all of the brakes (6 of them) but just the two on the new axle because it takes a little longer for the RV brakes to kick in. We may have to get that done yet.

We got to Las Vegas early afternoon yesterday. My nephew Craig called and let us know that he put a bid in on a house. We are co-signers and so I have been scanning and emailing documents to his lender this morning. We sure hope they can get this house!

We will be in Las Vegas for two weeks.  We have friends to visit here and have friends coming over to see us from San Diego! Should be fun!

Thankful to get the new axle on..."Ain't Life Grand!"

11-11-11!

2011-11-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day to all the Vets!

We finally signed refi papers on Tuesday night. Everything will be finished by Tuesday! Yay!

Ted went to the hearing aid place this week and he still has a problem with his phone and the remote but it seems to be working with the tv pretty well, just doesn't stay charged very long some times.   The tech couldn't get it to work with his phone so not sure if he's going to keep it or not.

The final thing to be done will be the axle and today I'll call to see if it has arrived down in San Diego!

With all the rain last weekend there is snow all around us. We can see snow on Big Bear right behind us.   We can see snow on Mt. Baldy to the west of us and we can see the snow on Idylwild southeast of us.   When we drove through Palm Springs on Wednesday, San Jacinto has snow too! We've also had some heavy duty cold wind this week in the park!

Here is a picture of the wind mills around Palm Springs and you can almost see the dusting of snow on the San Jacinto Mountains!

We went to the casino on Wednesday but neither of us had much luck. We had a nice lunch...I had great ribs, and played some games for awhile. Last night was bingo. I won two bingos and Ted won one so we paid for our games and won a little extra!

Today Max will get groomed and Ted and I will go shopping and maybe to the movies. We will leave here on Sunday and go back to Pio Pico for either one or two nights (depending on the axle status)!

Thankful to our Veterans..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Weathering the weather!

2011-11-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

We haven't done too much here in Cherry Valley so far. We played bingo on Thursday, only the ladies won, I had 3 bingos! It's fun to win!

It rained and was in the 50's all day Friday and then Saturday was in 60's and sunny! Sunday was as cloudy, rainy and as bad as the Chargers! Sunday night there was a lot of lightning and thunder with a few minutes of small hail! We can see some snow on Big Bear and Idylwild Mountains. It was a good night to stay inside!

We are still waiting for the paperwork to get done on our refi. Our locked in rate has been extended to Wednesday so hopefully it will be done by then!

Ted is about ready to give up on his remote control for his hearing aids. This is the second one and having more problems than the first one. We have an appointment tomorrow so we will see what they say. If they can't fix it I think he will return it. It works for the tv for awhile and then goes out. We've not gotten it to work for the phone at all once we leave the doctor's office!

Keeping warm and dry..."Ain't Life Grand!"

We are back in Cherry Valley!

2011-11-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

We are back to Cherry Valley after another busy week in San Diego without much internet service!

On Saturday night our friend Peggy Price invited us to join a group of her friends and co-workers at a restaurant downtown San Diego, Blue Point Coastal for dinner. There were supposed to be 12 but we ended up with 9 people. We had a table outside on the sidewalk very near the "Monster Bash party" that was being held downtown. We were all dressed in judges robes (some even had great wigs). Peggy made us all paddles that had a thumbs up or a thumbs down. There were tons and tons of people wearing all sorts of costumes walking by and we'd give them the thumbs up or down! Lots of people stopped and took our picture and gave us the thumbs up! A lot of people had a smile on their face when we gave them the thumbs up! We even got smiles from some zombies!

On Monday Ted and I had lunch with our friend Jeri and then I took her to her doctors appointment to check on her foot. It was a very bad break so the doctor wanted her to keep her boot on for another month but said her foot was healing fine. He said she could walk as much as she wanted so we took off to Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Valley Center for two nights. I left some money behind but had lots of fun and relaxation!

On Wednesday we ran around and did some last minute errands and a doctor's appointment before heading down to the harbor for dinner at C-Level for dinner with Peggy and her family. Her nephew and his wife from Kansas were out for a quick visit so her brother and his wife came down from San Francisco, her Dad, her two sons and us. It was a nice group and a very good dinner!

Yesterday we arrived in Beaumont, about a three hour drive from Pio Pico and are camped here at Cherry Valley! We are still trying to finish up our refi and have to head back down to San Diego on the 13th so we can get the new axle on the RV on the 14th. We will then head to Las Vegas from there.

Thankful for internet/cell sevice..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still In Pio Pico...still bad internet service!

2011-10-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy week since my last blog! We've had three lunches and seven dinners out, and a great time with friends.

Ted had lunch with his long time friend David Prime then we had dinner and bunco with our friends Jim and Della Crownover. Ted was the big bunco winner! We got a new awning installed on one of our slides and went to an 11 year olds baseball game and dinner with our friends and the grandparents, Jeri and Stach Gutowski. We had dinner with one of my former co-workers and his wife, Bill and Jany Staley. We had a girl's night out morning Charger game/party at Marcella's home with our spouses and dinner with a friend of Ted's from long ago, Fran and her husband Paul. We've had dinner and cards with Jim and Della. Ted had a hearing aid check up and dinner with one of Ted's former bosses and his wife, Dick and Tracy McGraw. And yesterday we had a hearing aid class and lunch with Rusty Coole, a high school classmate of Ted's and dinner with friends Meg and Kathy. (Meg is Ted's former sister-in-law)! Whew...

And of course we still haven't stopped eating and there is more to come starting tonight with Mallorie's volleyball game and dinner with her grandparents, Jeri and Stach!

We are having a great time. We leave here on November 3rd for Cherry Valley.

Really enjoying friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Eating out again!!!!

2011-10-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

I tried to post this blog yesterday but couldn't get connected to the internet! I have a nice picture but was not able to post it! Maybe later. Anyway, here is the day old post!

Yesterday morning we took off to drop off the old satellite dish at Fed-Ex, went to South Coast RV so they could order the new axle for the RV and then went to Escondido to meet Ted's high school classmate Rusty Coole. Rusty is a retired kindergarten teacher. We enjoyed a good lunch and shared our most recent adventures!

We had a couple of hours back at the RV with Max before heading to Filippe's Pizza downtown to meet Fran and Paul Young for dinner. Ted and Fran had lived in the same apartment building back in the 70's! They have not seen each other since that time! They live in Missouri now and were visiting friends in San Diego. Paul and I heard some good stories and we both shared our lives bringing us up to date! They both taught school in many foreign countries for 18 years. Pakistan was one of the places they lived and enjoyed. It sounds like they have been enjoying themselves and it was fun meeting them! We are planning to see them again before they leave town!

Meeting new people..."Ain't Life Grand!"

2011-10-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Ted and I met our friend Peggy Price at the movie theater in Rancho San Diego. When we were walking through the parking lot, GNO friend Adma drove by going to the YWCA with her Granddaughter, Delilah! She is beautiful! Anyway, we saw Ides of March and gave it three thumbs down! Just as it was getting suspensful, it ended! George is still handsome!

After the movie it was next door to Hooley's Irish Pub for dinner. Had a good meal and caught up on what's going on in Peg's life!

I think today we are going to set up our "patio area"...rug and chairs with some awning decorations! Will get some laundry done and unless we change out minds...hang out!

Taking it easy..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Pio Pico!

2011-10-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we drove down the mountain without incident and are back at Pio Pico!

Yesterday Ted had his first check up for his hearing aids. It is really amazing what they can tell from them. The doctor hooked them up to her computer and runs reports. She was pleasantly surprised that he averaged 14 hours a day of use, apparently not everyone uses them that much at first. She could tell how many times he changed the program or the volume, was in noisy area (the casino), listened to music, tv and quiet. Then she made some adjustments to the program. Ted's hearing aids are behind the ear and the tube that goes down in the right ear was sticking out a little so she got a different tube and fixed that problem and she put on smaller caps on the part down in the ears so they wouldn't bother him and that seems to be working as well. He is really pleased with them (and so am I)!

After his appointment, we met our friends Jeri and Stach for breakfast at Mission Valley Cafe (yummy) and then we went to watch Survivor (from Wednesday night) at their house. When we got to Pio Pico I had both air conditioners going and turned on the microwave and popped the circuit also frying the satellite receiver unfortunately. We called Dish and they overnighted a new one which we got yesterday and Ted hooked up. My shows that I had dvr'd were all lost, but we have tv again!

We had good news from our insurance company, we were approved to replace the middle axle on the RV so will get a new one ordered and get that taken care of in the next couple of weeks! We are very happy about that.

Ted being able to hear..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Departing Julian and back to Jamul today!

2011-10-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I enjoyed Ted's birthday! We met some friends at Viejas for (a so-so) dinner. Ted and I went a little early for some gambling. We played long enough that we each got the buffet for free! I actually ended up with about $60 more than I went with and I gave Ted some money for his birthday to gamble with! Ted didn't do as well but I hope he enjoyed!

Here in Julian we've seen wild turkeys, a coyote and several deer; including three that were hanging out on the side of the road last night when we drove back up the mountain! It's really been nice up here and we've had great cell/internet service! Hopefully we'll have better service than we had last time at Pio Pico! We sure haven't figured out the best place to park to try to get good service!

Winning (but not like Charlie Sheen)..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Birthday to TED!

2011-10-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband! He is legally an old fart! LOL!

We are still enjoying Julian. Had a visit from friends Steve and Kathe Dunn yesterday. They picked us up and we went to Wynola to have lunch at the Wynola Pizza Co. After a delicious lunch we stopped at the Banner grade overlook! It was a beautiful day!

We were headed back to the RV and were trying to decide if we wanted to go see the historic Stonewall Mine, south of Lake Cuyamaca. We decided to take a look at the mine. Gold was discovered there in 1870 but the mine really didn't get going until 1886. $2,000,000 in gold was produced between 1886 and 1892! The mine was abandoned in 1893. The main shaft was 630' deep. There isn't much left of the mine just a few odds and ends.

When we got to the mine there was one other car and the man got back to his car just before we were ready to leave. He had been hiking since 10:00 a.m., it was now 3:00 p.m. It was a good thing we had not left yet because the man locked his keys in his trunk, along with his cell phone because he had no signal. He would have had another pretty good hike to get to a telephone. He used our phone to call AAA! Our good deed for the day!

A beautiful afternoon visiting with friends and seeing the area..."Ain't Life Grand!"

GO CHARGERS!

2011-10-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

What an exciting Charger game...they almost blew it again! Whew that was close!

During the game we had a surprise visit from our friends Jeri and Stach. They were originally planning to visit us but when Jeri fractured her foot, they put a boot on it and she was supposed to stay off of it! She was surprisingly able to get up the steps okay (and said her foot feels fine today). They also brought a yummy apple pie to share! We had dessert first yesterday!

Enjoying a surprise visit..."Ain't Life Grand!

Enjoying some down time!

2011-10-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

We've really been relaxing here in Julian. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful! It's now in the high 70's in the day and high 40's in the early morning. It was crystal clear yesterday. Max and I had a couple of nice long walks!

Our Julian campground, KQ Ranch, is a part of Colorado River Adventures, a membership campground. When we joined they told us as they add campgrounds we would have access to them. What they don't tell you (of course if we had read the fine print) is that we would have to pay additional membership fees. After the original investment we pay annual dues but then we can stay two weeks at a time for free. So we went and talked to them about a couple of new campgrounds. We were interested in the Pismo Beach Campground but it is a small park and they are putting 35 park models on it so no RV's. So we said no thank you, saved a bunch of money and came back to the RV!

Last night they had a barbeque. We had the steak, baked potatoes and corn with German Chocolate cake again for dessert (saving me some calories)! The steaks were delicious! We sat with a nice couple that live in Vista originally from Missouri. We left when the Karaoke started, Ted's new hearing aids were not prepared for that! They are working great but he's still getting used to them!

Today is the Charger game....GO CHARGERS!

Relaxing in Julian..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying Julian!

2011-10-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night was VERY windy! How windy was it? When I let Max out to do his business before going to bed, I stood on the inside (it was so cold) and tried to hold the door while Max went out on his leash. The next thing I knew, the wind whipped me around, the door flew open and I was on the ground outside! Ted came running out to get me but I was fine. I think the wind let me down gently after picking me up and throwing me out! I also thought our bedroom was in a perfect spot away from the wind, yet when I got in bed it was a bumpy ride for awhile! Thursday morning it was 37 degrees and still pretty windy and rainy when I walked Max.

Our friends Jim and Della Crownover came up around lunch time yesterday and we went into Julian. It was still a bit cold and cloudy but wasn't raining! We had lunch at the Julian Grille. The restaurant is set in a cozy cottage festooned with lacy draperies, flickering candles, and a warm hearth, the Grille is the nicest eatery in town. We all had a delicious lunch and decided to walk about town! We did a little shopping and then picked up an apple pie at Moms!

We came back to our RV and played a serious game of Pokeno! I was the big winner by winning $1.50 of Ted's pennies! Jim and Della won about 50 cents from Ted, leaving Ted 50 cents! We then had apple pie and ice cream for dinner!

This morning it was 35 degrees when I walked Max but the sun was shinning and there was no wind! It was a beautiful day. We finished setting up our camp site and took off to Golden Acorn for a couple of hours. Today Ted was the lucky one. He came out $6.00 ahead and I lost $35.00. It was fun even though I lost because I would play on a machine for quite awhile and would get to play some bonuses!

Tonight we had homemade lasagne in the club house here at the campground. They served a salad and garlic toast with the lasagne with german chocolate cake for dessert! I'm not crazy about coconut so I passed on dessert but really enjoyed my dinner.

I took a couple of pictures when we got back to the RV. The sunset was much prettier in person!

When we were at Pio Pico I took some pictures but could not get them to download! Pics taken at campground, ballpark and at vollyball!

A beautiful cool day in Julian..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Julian...

2011-10-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

...in spite of the wind and rain! We drove up into the clouds and fog with lots of wind and rain! We are tucked in tight and are cozy and warm while we bounce around from the wind! When the wind stops and rain slows down, we will set up our satellite dish and sewer...probably Friday! Max is not going to like going out for our walk (and neither will I)!

The good news is...we have internet service once again! I have already ordered some new day/night shades for our bedroom, sunreader sunglasses for Ted and I, ordered a mail delivery for when we get back down to Pio Pico, did some banking and now typing the blog!

Shopping and blogging on the internet..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Headed for Julian!

2011-10-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will leave Pio Pico and go up to Julian for a week. We will finally have cell service (I think) and therefore, internet service. Where we are camped here has not been good at all. Sometimes we connect but try to send an email or post a blog and lose the connection...frustration!

We've continued having a good time and getting doctors and RV things done. We borrowed a steam cleaner and got our rug cleaned, got a new vent. The appraiser was out for the axle but can't get the claims adjuster to call back so that we can proceed on the new axle just yet. Started the refi on our house. Got my face and Ted's head frozen for pre-cancer cells. Still working on Ted's sore eye, he's got steroids and eye drops for them.

Ted got his new hearing aids today, I think he hears a lot better and they are supposed to get better as his ears adjust to them. You've heard of smart phones, he's got smart hearing aids! They work really well with his phone and he's setting up the tv for them right now!

Been to a few dinners, lunches, vollyball and baseball games and tonight is girls night out! So that just about brings you up to date!

New hearing aids for Ted..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying being in San Diego!

2011-09-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

We have enjoyed our week in San Diego. We've been visiting friends and getting lots of things done such as doctor appointments, RV appointments, insurance appointments, refinancing appointments and more! We've attended the great vollyball and baseball games of our friends' grandkids. We've gotten some card games in (which we lost to Jim Crownover), but had a good dinner and lots of fun!

We've had horrible internet/cell service. Ted moved the antenna around again and it's better today!

Getting on the internet today..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in San Diego at Pio Pico!

2011-09-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we arrived back in San Diego at Pio Pico which means the cell/internet service is not so great! We find we can use the internet the best in the mornings and texting works better than calls! Oh well, the weather has been great!

While we are here in San Diego we are making doctor appoints, RV appointments, nails, hair and more! I got a hair cut yesterday and nails today. Ted has already had a hearing test and we have an appointment to see about hearing aids. So in other words he didn't do so well on his test! The doctor was very good about explaining everything to us.

On Thursday we made it to Jeri and Stan's grandaughter's volly ball game. She is in high school on the Junior Varsity team and their team won! Mallorie played a great game. Last night we went to her brother's doubleheader baseball game. Trent played an awesome game. He was hitting great and came in to pitch the final inning. The top of the inning his team was hitting like crazy, some players got up 3 times to bat. His team started feeling bad for the other guys. By now it was 10:30 p.m. and they were the last two teams on the field. Trent was called in to pitch and struck out the first batter, he caught a line drive from the second batter and struck out the third batter. His team won 23 to 3 in the 4th inning!

I took this picture at the campground. The squirrels and rabbits are driving Max crazy! But he loves the ranger station, they give him doggie cookies!

Enjoying San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Last day at the Grand Canyon :(

2011-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Lunch at the El Tovar Hotel, a nice way to end our time at the Grand Canyon! I had the smoked salmon salad and Ted had the pork tenderloin chili. Both were delicious! We spent some time around the canyon and got to the veranda before the rains started again. The weather wasn't as spectacular as Sunday and there was no rainbow but still fun to watch the lightning and hear the thunder and of course people watching! It was in the low 50's and some young guy was running around in his shorts (not underwear) only and flinging his arms toward heaven. Not sure what he was asking God, but he seemed to really be talking to him! Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

We left the Canyon yesterday about 9:00 a.m. and made it almost to Kingman, Arizona before the rains started. It got down in the low 60's so at least we didn't have to worry about hail! Ted drove about four hours in the rain before we finally saw the sun again! We arrived in Cherry Valley around 6:00 p.m. last night. We tried to make it in time to play bingo but we had to eat and take care of Max. It was a long day of driving for us and we were all tired anyway!

This morning we felt an earthquake! I don't know if it was very big or not, but it was the largest we have felt in our RV! Felt like we were bumping down the road or as if someone was bumping into us! Max finally woke up when it was almost over! Guess not all animals have the early warning sense!

We will leave here this morning for Pio Pico down in San Diego!

Today is our nephew Chip's birthday..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back at Grand Canyon!

2011-09-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

We are back to the Grand Canyon! We had a short drive and got to Trailer Village in the Grand Canyon a little before noon! Just after we got set up we had a pretty good thunder, lightning and rain storm. Fortunately it didn't last too long and we made it over to the Canyon just in time to enjoy some more weather!

We had just gotten to the El Tovar Hotel when it started to rain...pour...gush torrents of water! The thunder and lightning was right on top of us and then the wind started and it was brrrr cold! Everyone huddled on the porches and watched the weather!

First the wind stopped, then the rain stopped and the sun came back out. There were clouds down in the Canyon and they would pop back up, almost like smoke rising from the bottom of the Canyon! It was really amazing!

When the sun came out everyone got back out to enjoy the Canyon and Ted and I were able to snag a table on the Veranda once they dried everything off! We had just gotten our glass of wine when the fog rolled in! It started out of the Canyon and just came up over the edge. It was eerie and cool!

The fog went away again and the sun came back out so we enjoyed people watching from the veranda at the El Tovar. It's one of our favorite places to enjoy a million dollar view!

It started getting cold so went shopping. When we came out of the shop, we saw this beautiful full rainbow! The ranger told us it's very rare to have a double rainbow that goes all the way down in the Canyon! My camera could not even come close to capturing the beauty of the rainbow! People were all gathering, taking pictures and ooing and ahhing!

Enjoying the sights of the Grand Canyon..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Stormed into Flagstaff!

2011-09-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. We said goodbye to our friends and got on the road. It was a chilly 49 degrees! It's a pretty drive from Taos down to Santa Fe. It started warming up to about 75 degrees and we turned west in Albuquerque. We could see rain ahead but little did we know when we got there it was a torrential downpour! Of course I was driving, the temperature dropped to 47 degrees and it started hailing pea-size hail like crazy. When the semi's pull over, you know it's bad. Fortunately it didn't last too long.

We made it all the way to Flagstaff without incident. It was just getting dark but we gained an hour once we got to Arizona. We are at Black Bart's campground. It has a pretty low rating in the Good Sam Directory but they have a really nice restaurant and we can stay hooked up (truck connected to the RV) since we are leaving this morning to go up to the Grand Canyon for two nights.

After we got set up we had dinner, Ted had steak and I had ribs...delicious. The waiters all sing between taking orders and serving your meals. Being named Black Bart's we had thought they would probably sing country music but they sing show tunes! We had been here before a couple of years ago and enjoyed it and enoyed the dinner and music again last night! Everyone is friendly and it was a nice end to the day.

Or so we thought!...Got to bed and a few minutes later the biggest, loudest lightning and thunder storm blew in. Again, pouring rain. Poor Max was pretty scared (so was I if I care to admit it)! But, this morning the sun is shining even though it was only 44 degrees when I walked Max! Brrrr...

Making it safely through the storms..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Enchanted Circle!

2011-09-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had breakfast with our friends James & Gail and their friends Bucky & Ivy. After a yummy breakfast we visited the Millicent Rogers Museum. We had not heard of this woman but she set up a wonderful museum of Pueblo Indian Artifacts. There were rugs, a couple of dresses, artwork, jewelry, pottery and more. It was an interesting museum.

Sorry Kelli, I know it's small if you can't open the collage!

From there the groups separated and we visited the small local casino. It was our lucky day, I doubled my money and Ted won $4.00! We left the casino and visited the San Francisco De Asis Church. The adobe mission church was built between 1813 and 1815 and they still have daily mass and three on Sundays! It is a beautiful church.

It rained most of the night last night and when we got up this morning there was snow on the mountain tops! It was cool all day today. We went to breakfast with the other two couples and another couple they know, Kim and Sandy. Ted and I had a sinful cinnamon roll!

After breakfast Ted and I drove the 90 something mile ride around the Enchanted Circle. We started off in Taos through the Carson National Forest and over the mountains. We drove through beautiful pines and down into Angel Fire, a ski resort at 8420' in a beautiful meadow. It was a cute but very small town. The next stop was the town of Eagle Nest at 8258'. I tried to get a picture of the Eagle Nest Lake but it was too blurry! We followed the Red River and over the Bobcat Pass at 9820'. We saw a beautiful group of wild turkeys. Red River was a little bigger town and we would have had lunch there if we weren't still stuffed from our you-know-what! We were now in a rocky mountain area with red, yellow and gold rocks. Questa was the last town and it was the least impressionable. It was a beautiful drive. The snow was still at a higher elevation and 49 degrees at our highest point!

Tomorrow we leave Taos and are headed for the Grand Canyon South Rim. We have a reservation for Sunday and Monday nights. They are booked solid on Tuesday. Not sure where we will stay tomorrow night.

Meeting new people and sightseeing..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Taos!

2011-09-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today we took a drive into Taos. Ted got a haircut, we got some stuff from Ford for the truck, had lunch and did some shopping in the Plaza! Highway 64 runs through the town and it's several miles long. There are lots of restaurants, cute shops and art galleries. We had lunch at The Gorge restaurant. They like those hot chili peppers there but I managed to scrape them off my grilled cheese! We were by the window and it was some good people watching!

We walked through a little part of the plaza and Ted bought me some pretty Kokopelli earrings. We looked in a couple of galleries and this Lincoln's Union sculpture was out front. We thought it was very interesting. It is in three pieces, using the front and the back!

Our Traveling Supremes friends, James and Gail, arrived today. We picked them up to go see the Earthship! They actually have a visitor's center so that you can see how everything is made and how all the systems work. They build with recycled materials such as cans, bottles and tires. They have water harvesting, a contained sewage treatment center, solar/thermal heating and cooling, solar and wind electric power and food production. They are building these houses all over the world and there is a development (The Great World) right near the visitor center. I can't help but think about kool-aid for some reason!

To get to the Earthship we had to cross the Rio Grand River over the Historic Rio Grande Gorge bridge! The river is 650' below!

We were getting hit by rain drops while we were visiting the Earthship and got back to the RV and saw this beautiful rainbow!

Earthships and rainbows..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Labor Day!

2011-09-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

We just took it easy yesterday. Got laundry done and a couple of errands including a new surge protector and now the computer is operating a lot better!

Today we drove northeast to Taos. It was a pretty drive. On the road into Taos there were odd houses built into the side of a hill. When we got to the campground the lady gave us a brochure on them. They are Earthship Biotecture homes! Apparently you can take tours of some of them. The brochure indicates you can purchase the Euro Earthship (3 b/r's 2 baths) for a mere $400,000! Total annual utility bill is $100! I'll try to get some pictures of them, they are very interesting!

Our campsite is on a hill and there is a pretty view out our window (and a bit windy up here too):

Ted was really interested in the clouds. He said they were great for soaring! You could really gain some altitude on them!

Tomorrow we will do some sightseeing. A Traveling Supreme couple, James and Gail will arrive here tomorrow afternoon. They are attending a big music festival! It will be good to see them again!

Some place new to investigate..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Santa Fe

2011-09-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to the Plaza in Old Town Santa Fe. We decided Friday would be a little less crowded than Labor Day weekend! We had a bite to eat at a little French restaurant and then took a tram around the city (after finally finding a place to park the BIG truck)! The driver pointed out the "real" adobe houses, you could even see the straw in one of them. Since 1967 the architecture in Old Town must be adobe style and colors. There are 248 art galleries in Santa Fe with 120 of them on one street! We drove up Museum Hill and saw the bronze statue of a conestoga wagon pulled by a mule team. He pointed out the New Mexico tree and flag. It was an interesting tour.

After we got off the tram, we visited the Loretto Chapel and it's miraculous staircase! The chapel was built but there was no staircase up to the choir loft. The Sisters tried to find a carpenter to make the stairs but because of the height of the loft there wasn't room to make a staircase. The Sisters made a Novena to their patron saint, Saint Joseph the Carpenter. Legend has it that a carpenter arrived on a donkey with a saw, hammer, a square and tubs to soak the wood. His "miraculous staircase" contains 33 steps in two full 360-degree turns with no center support, nor is it held from it sides! When complete the carpenter disappeared without seeking payment!

It is a beautiful privately owned chapel now and open to the public. It is available for weddings and other special occasions. It has a very nice gift shop with tons of crosses to select from!

We walked around town and looked in a few of the shops, then rested our feet in the Plaza Square with some ice cream!

Yesterday we took a drive to the small town of Pecos and the Pecos National Historic Park. It started raining but we managed to go into the visitor center and see a movie on the history of the area. It stopped raining finally and we were able to walk out to the Pueblo ruins. There was a large community of Pueblo Indians that were taken over by the Spanish Conquistadors. They brought missionaries with them and the large building is the second church built on the site. The Indians revolted at one point and burned down the first church they built. The Spanish left for awhile but came back and took over again.

At the site of the ruins, there was a group of people that were making pottery in the way of the Pueblo Indians. We got there just as they were just starting to build the kiln. We left the ruins and took a drive through the Santa Fe National Forest. It was a bit rainy and cold and we didn't see any wildlife, just a lot of people fishing in the Pecos River and camping out along side the river. We drove along the Santa Fe Trail to get to the ruins.

We followed the Santa Fe Trail back to the campground, dropped off Max and went to Harry's Roadhouse for dinner. We have seen tons of cars there every day. Thought there would be a big wait but it is an old house converted into a restaurant and there was a lot of seating in each room, along with a big patio area. We had the pizza and it was okay. We must have not picked the really good food that all of the people come in for! I tried the White Peach Sangria and that was very good! Hmmmm!

This morning we took off to the Buffalo Thunder Casino. They advertised $25 in moreplay but when we got there that promotion had ended. Now you "flipped" an electronic coin to see what you would win between $5 and $500.00. We both won $5.00 hmmmm! We played for a couple of hours, finally getting a bonus or two at the end and are now home. Today is a cloudy and cool day, may get some more rain!

Our computer has been shutting down on us and I finally plugged it in to the socket instead of the surge protector. So far so good, keeping my fingers crossed!

Enjoying Santa Fe..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Santa Fe, New Mexico

2011-09-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

We left Chama this morning, drove about 100 miles and are now in Santa Fe, NM! We got here early so I took off got a Starbucks and my nails done!

This afternoon the skies got darker and darker with rain in the distance. A warning came on the tv for a flood watch in the county. We are up in the hills so we shouldn't have to worry about flooding. We are still waiting for the rain to come through, just have some wind and it's getting chilly outside (63)!

Labor Day in Santa Fe is a "Mexican Fiesta"! We will probably stay away from the crowds but there is still a lot to see here!

HAPPY LABOR DAY ALL..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Downtown Chama!

2011-08-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to take in downtown Chama! Downtown is about a mile long. There are shops and galleries, one bank, a post office, a drug store and several very old hotels. The population is 1,199 and the elevation is 7850'! Chama became an important site on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad just after 1880. The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad is the remnant of the narrow gauge line which once served the mining areas of southwestern Colorado. The railroad was abandoned in 1969 but the most scenic part of its route, equipment and buildings were saved and today is the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The train carries passengers 64 miles along the New Mexico/Colorado border. It is America's highest and longest coal fired, steam operated, narrow-gauge railroad!

After looking in the shops we walked down to the depot to look around.

We met a couple other couples in town and had lunch together. After lunch we finished our shopping and found a $5.00 string of red hot chili peppers made out of cloth. Jack (one of the traveling supremes) loves his peppers and made pepper poppers several times while we were here. We bought them and hung them on his 5th wheel. It took all day but when we came back from dinner he finally noticed them! I don't think he's figured out who put them up there but he sure got a kick out of them!

Today we got some errands done and had our last group dinner. Three couples (including us) are leaving for different directions tomorrow. We are going down to Santa Fe and spend a few days there. It will be a little warmer in Santa Fe. We've enjoyed the coolness at Chama!

Enjoying a week with some of the "Traveling Supremes"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A drive through the forest!

2011-08-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

We are still enjoying our potlucks! Sunday evening after dinner we took a drive through the Rio Grande National Forest. Just north of Chama and into Colorado. We went about 7:00 p.m. hoping to see some wildlife. It is about an 8 mile drive. We finally saw some deer and elk. The herd of elk were too far away to photograph, but the drive itself was so pretty!

Yesterday Ted and I took charge of the potluck making the main dish. It was a Mexican Fiesta! Ted made his mother's enchilada recipe (of course I did the dishes). It took about an hour and half for him to prepare them and then another 30 minutes to cook. There was a taco bar, homemade refried beans, homemade guacamole, jaleno poppers (you can bet I had some of those...right!), homemade salsa with chips. I brought watermelon for the finale! It was a great meal and and so we decided we needed to relax our tummies around the fire. One of the RV'ers is parked right on the Chama River so we sat around the fire listening to the water and digested our dinner! It was a fun evening.

Ted cooking dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying an eating festival!

2011-08-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

We are in an "eating frenzy"! The group went to dinner Friday night at the Cliffview Restaurant. The owners were originally from El Segundo, California and now live in Tierra Amarillo, New Mexico. This is just a few miles south of Chama. It was raining with some thunder and lightning but that didn't stop us! The restaurant is like a little log cabin. Everyone was very friendly and our steaks were delicious! The view isn't bad either!

After dinner we headed back to the campground. We came upon a group of does being fed by a couple of young women. They offered to let us feed them so Linda and I did! They were pretty hungry! On down the road we found the bucks! They are so bold they just come right up to the truck. With the size of their antlers, we decided to take pictures from inside the truck!

On Saturday Ted and I went to the El Vado Lake State Park to a craft fair they were having. It was a pretty lake and they said 30' low from the drought. Until the turn of the century there were tons of Ponderosa Pines but the loggers came in and have taken them all down without replanting replacement trees. It is still a pretty park.

It was a very small craft fair so Ted and I looked around and headed back to the campground. We didn't want to miss another chance to eat after all! We had a potluck and one of the Lindas cooked a couple of pork tenderloins. The rest of us provided side dishes and dessert! Everything was great and we were all full again! After dinner we sat around the fire and found out how everyone mate their mates. All four of the other couples have been married 40+ years! I think that is so great!

Today we had brunch at the High Country Restaurant in Chama. They cook your eggs and waffle to order and have plenty of side dishes. Everything was delicious!

Not missing any meals in Chama..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Chama, New Mexico

2011-08-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

We made it to Chama! Yay! The new axle, hub, wheel and tire all did well. The last 20 miles to Chama were heading up to the mountains. It was a pretty drive so I took some pictures in the Ghost Ranch area on the way to the campground.

It's a nice little campground nestled in the trees a little over 7800 ft. There are four couples that are still here from the "Traveling Supremes" group we were on our way to meet up with last week. They had dinner ready, chicken gumbo (as some of the RVer's are from Louisiana) and all the trimmings. After a great dinner we sat around a fire and gabbed. It was chilly enough to put on long pants and a jacket! After awhile we had some roasted marshmallows followed up by a Bailey's Irish cream. A nice end to a week of getting the RV repaired!

Today we went into the town of Chama, pretty small town and some places have seen better days. We got our mail from the post office and some money at the one bank in town for dinner tonight. Our group is going to dinner at the Cliff View House. It's a small log type restaurant over looking these cool cliffs, or so they tell us! It's raining right now (thunder and lightning too) but will hopefully stop before we leave and I'll be able to take some pictures!

Successful RV repairs..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ready to rock and roll!

2011-08-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

The axle finally arrived yesterday afternoon. We got over there at 9:00 this morning and were back at the campground by 3:00, with new axle, hubs, wheel and tire! It was a long day and pretty hot (90's). We were able to sit in the shade of our RV with Max and read our books. They wanted us to stay hooked up to the truck to support the RV. For some reason, all three of us are pooped tonight! Don't know why waiting is so tiring????

Tomorrow we leave Gallup and head for Chama! It is about 300 miles (about 100 miles north of Santa Fe), almost to Colorado.

I took a picture of one of the pots seen all around Gallup. They have two headed pots and small pots scattered around randomly as far as I can tell. They are pretty cool!

Getting on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still waiting!

2011-08-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday and we are still waiting for the axle to arrive by a semi from Oklahoma. The rim did arrive yesterday and we got the new tire mounted so we are ready for the new axle!

This weekend we mostly just hung out at the RV; cleaning, washing clothes and reading. We've had some rain, thunder and lightning and some mosquito bites as well! The wind pops up and then gets still. The arroyo next to the campground goes from dry to wet to running and back to dry all within a day!

Being bored in Gallup..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A visit to the historic El Rancho Hotel

2011-08-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after I had my nails done, I came out of the parking lot and the whole area was blocked off by fire and police. We found out later than a semi carrying fuel (but fortunately empty) had careened off the road through the grass and up a slight grade onto a parking lot and took out the side and front of a loan company. They advertised fast loans but I don't think that's what happened. They said on the news that the driver was killed along with another person inside the building, two others were in critical condition. They obviously don't know what happened yet.

I made my way back to the campground and picked up Ted. We decided to visit the El Rancho Hotel. The hotel was built in 1937 and it was "the" hotel for movie stars filming in and around Arizona and New Mexico. They had a 2nd floor lobby that overlooked the main lobby with wall to wall pictures on all four sides. Many of the pictures were signed by the movie star. Each room is named for a movie star that stayed at the hotel such as the W. C. Fields room, the John Wayne room and the Ronald Reagan room! It is a rustic hotel that has been lovingly restored with a big old stone fireplace. It was built by the brother of movie director D. W. Griffiths.

We took a look in the gift shop and talked about having lunch there, but it was pretty crowded! Driving back west on Route 66 I saw a sign for the Richardson Cash Pawn shop. This place was listed in the Road Trip USA book. It has been family owned since 1913 and is crammed with arts, crafts, pawned goods, Navajo rugs and jewelry, saddles, guitars and much more!

We went on down the road to the Sonic, they were advertising Turtle Sundaes, got my attention! They were actually milkshakes and were delicious!

Milkshakes for lunch..."Ain't Life Grand!"

USA RV Park

2011-08-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

The campground we are in is the USA RV Park. Most people stop in for the night on their way to or from Albuquerque or Arizona. It's a desert like park but very nice. There are interesting metal sculptures as you drive in of buffalo, elk, hummingbirds and other indian symbols. The pool is really cool with the American flag painted on the bottom! Every evening they have the barbeques and a pretty good country singer entertaining for three hours.

Yesterday we went to town to pick up a part from Ford and it poured rain with thunder and lightning on all sides! It was sunny where we were but with clouds all around and 93 degrees. Five minutes later it was pouring and 63 degrees. I couldn't believe the change. The dry creek next to the campground is now running, not full but you can can hear the muddy rapids as they flow down creek bed. It rained hard for about 30 minutes.

I also found a Starbucks! Didn't think they had one in town, but there is one if the Safeway grocery store!

Having a white chocolate, nonfat, no whip, extra hot mocha..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing and Waiting!

2011-08-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to go for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I normally love the grits but they were only so-so. The bacon, egg and biscuits were good! After breakfast we took a drive through the rest of the town and came upon the Red Rock Park. There is a rodeo center, a museum and a nice little campground with water and electric. Since there was no rodeo right now, there were only two RV's in the campground. This was one view from the campground.

There are so many colorful rocks of many kinds, shapes and sizes in the area!

This is what our axle looks like. You can't really tell anything is broken, just missing! The tire and hub have been removed. When the bearing failed bearings had all dropped out somewhere and we were also losing brake fluid! The damage to the bottom of the RV is a wide space above the axle.

The axle, along with the hub, bearing, braking mechanism and shock absorber has all been ordered so Max and Ted and trying to relax while waiting!

Today we are going to go get the new tire, as long as the DOT (date of tire) is current. We are leary since the one tire we bought brand new that was actually already five years old and lost the tread which damaged the side of our RV!

Relaxing with the cute little Maxi Dog..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Waiting Game!

2011-08-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

More bad news! The repair guys came out this morning. When they pulled the bearing off, they found the axle itself was scarred and will have to be replaced. We are waiting for them to find a new axle and bearing. So right now, we have no idea how long we will be in Gallup! They will also have to repair the underside of our RV as some part of what happened tore it up in a couple of places. It covers our insulation and protects the floor and all of the tanks. Our underbelly is actually one piece from front to back but it will now have patches.

We drove into town today and looked around. We saw a Cracker Barrel in town so Ted is taking me there for breakfast in the morning! They have good breakfasts! We weren't really in the mood to do much sightseeing so picked up some dog food and a couple of things and are back at the camp site. When you have nothing you can do about things, I blog and hog the computer so Ted is taking a nap and Max too!

It's 90 degrees here right now and starting to get cloudy. In Chama it's in the 70's and beautiful...so they tell me!

Being safe and sound..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert and the bad news!

2011-08-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we drove through the town of Holbrook on the way to the Petrified Forest National Park. It is a very small town with lots of motels, one grocery store, lots of rock shops, a couple of banks and so on. The main road through Holbrook is U.S. Route 66! Route 66 encompasses 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles originally. The interesting historic Wigwam Motel is on Route 66 in Holbrook!

From there we went on a drive through the Petrified Forest National Park. Our first stop was to the Rainbow Forest Museum. There were a lot of pieces of trees laying around that were over 200 million years old! The logs were buried in layers of sediment along a river with silica gradually replacing organic material. The rainbow of colors come from trace minerals such as iron and manganese oxides! They are beautiful and mother nature has polished them to a brilliant shine!

As we drove through the park we were being chased by thunder, lightning and rain! Most of the hard rain went around us!

The Painted Desert is at one end of the 28 mile road but you can only see a small portion from the road. We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn, and took a look inside. There were only 6 very small rooms in the inn, a nice lounge, eating area and beautiful views! It no longer functions as an inn but as a museum and you can look around.

The colors in the painted desert are amazing. It was a cloudy, rainy day and I'm sure on a sunny day it would even be more beautiful!

This morning we left Holbrook and were planning to drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a beautiful day and I took some pictures leaving Arizona...

And arriving in New Mexico!

But the bad news...about 12 miles into New Mexico we heard a loud pop! We had a blow out on the RV on the driver side. Ted got pulled over just past the weigh station and managed to back into an area of the weigh station not being used, all the while the trucks were whizzing past us leaving the weigh station. The tire man came to fix the tire and now for the really bad news...it was another failed bearing! But they never fail they tell us...sure, this is our second!

So he managed to chain up the axle so it wouldn't touch the ground and we followed the tire guy as we limped 4 miles to the next exit in Gallup and to a repair shop. Of course it is Sunday and it wasn't open but luckily, the man and his wife happened to drive by and noticed us (all 55 feet or so) in front of his shop and pulled in to see what was going on. We have an appointment for someone to come out in the morning to see if they have a bearing that will work for us. Last time it took a few days to get the bearing so we "camped" by the side of the road between Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nevada! We also will have to buy a new tire and order a new rim from Indiana!

We are safely in an RV park in Gallup which we had been to before, and it is a very nice park. Tonight they had a man singing country songs, they had a barbecue and an ice cream social. I cooked our dinner but we attended the social and ate ice cream and talked to some nice people!

Ted says..."Life ain't too Grand today!"

Holbrook, Arizona

2011-08-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

We left Cherry Valley yesterday and are now in Holbrook, Arizona. I always think of Arizona as hot and desert like! We drove through Flagstaff and it was about 10 degrees cooler at that elevation. There is one area that has a huge field. We have seen it filled with snow, green as could be and yesterday it was full of yellow flowers and very pretty!

We decided to spend two nights here and today will visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We've been wanting to see the area and we have the day to do it! We've stayed at this campground before and they have a "Cowboy Cookout". So we decided to partake. I had a good steak dinner and Ted had a good old fashioned cheeseburger!

Tomorrow we will be in New Mexico!

Taking time to sightsee..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Last day in Cherry Valley!

2011-08-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was soooo relaxing. We needed to recouperate after our busy week in San Diego. My excuse to be lazy yesterday!!!!

Today we took our truck in and they replaced the "drive line". That is what they call it. Tomorrow we will see how it works pulling the RV. It had a "shimmy" when you would start off but didn't last long. I asked Donald our Commerical Fleet Service Advisor at Sunrise Ford if I could take his picture of where we "used" to spend so much time with our old truck. He laughed and allowed me to take the picture!

He is a nice man, but more importantly seems to know a lot about trucks and what he doesn't know, he finds out!

Tomorrow we will start out to Chama, New Mexico.

Back on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Cherry Valley!

2011-08-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time in San Diego. We enjoyed time at Jim and Della's. On Thursday she had her famous spaghetti dinner! Elaine Williams had made brownies that were to die for! When we arrived we found Kelli enjoying the spa after her six day bike ride from San Luis Obispo! I'm not showing the picture of her before she realized we were there, let's just say we could have probably made some $$$$ on it!

The weather was wonderful for sitting out on the patio! Phil, Elaine and Marion were enjoying!

On Friday we met our friend Jeri Gutowski at Barona. We had a couple of hours of gambling and lunch in the cafe. It was a lot of fun! We hurried home to let Max out and made it to Jim and Della's in time for Jim's yummy ribs and beer can chicken. Della had made a ton of salads and her yummy sweet and sour beans! Her friend Kim made a marshmallow/cream cheese sauce for strawberries that was also a big hit!

We got the group together for a red lips picture!

On Saturday I met my friend Peggy Price for lunch in La Mesa. We enjoyed lunch and then while I was getting my nails done, she came in with pumpkin spice cupcakes and cream cheese frosting...my favorite! I think I gained 10 pounds this week in San Diego...yikes!

In the afternoon we attended the Su-Hi grand re-opening! The school looks great. I managed to get a few more pictures:

Ted, Kelli, Karol, Jim & Della (side picture of the new building)

Kelli and Vicky with one of their former teachers!

Vicky with the High School Mascot!

After listening to speeches, roaming the new halls of the school and buying a t-shirt to help the football team, we headed back to Jim and Della's for left overs and quiet conversation! It was a fun day!

Sunday we met our friends Jeri and Stach Gutowski for brunch and then we opened birthday presents...past, present and future birthdays! Stach was May, I was July, Jeri is August and Ted October! It was fun doing it all together! Jeri found red lip luggage for me...too cute...and a beautiful Paris neclace and earrings! She got Ted an Amazon gift certificate (for his Kindle) and two 24 oz Starbucks tumblers that she had added pictures too! They were so great...loved them!

We are now in Cherry Valley, waiting for a new drive shaft for our truck. We are hoping it comes in today!

Week long blogs..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Blog!

2011-08-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave San Diego and we will have better internet again! I couldn't even add pics to the blog it is so slow! Will do the blog after we get settled in Cherry Valley!

We've had a great time in San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

San Diego!!!

2011-08-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

We made it to San Diego! On Monday we took the new truck to the dealer for it's first oil change. We also had a couple of issues. When it would shift in and out of 5th it would clunk! They updated the computer and that problem was fixed (takes a couple of hours)! The shimmy that happens when it first starts has to do with the drive shaft. They have to balance the drive shaft with the RV weight to the truck. They had a fix for that, a new longer drive shaft. We will take the truck back next Tuesday for the change out! We still love the new truck!

While in San Diego for the week, we are trying to meet up with friends and get some things done. Tuesday we got the RV set up and got some errands done. Tuesday night was Girls Night Out! I met up with the girls and we had a good time, lots of laughing and some gift exchanging! Yesterday we met up with our friend David Prime for lunch and then friends Larry and Carol Wallis for dinner!

Today Max goes to the groomer and then tonight we meet up at Jim and Della Crownovers for a Su-Hi Mama Della spaghetti dinner get together! Yummmm!

Seeing friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sizzling in Fresno!

2011-07-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

We are in Fresno. It's a bit warm, it's been over 100 degrees! I felt bad for Ted having to set up the RV yesterday afternoon in the heat! But he did it!

I had texted Chip and Stephen, two of the three nephews to see if they were available for dinner. Chip has been working out of town so didn't know if he would be around. Stephen answered and we thought we were meeting he and Marissa for dinner. We had a nice surprise, Chip was there too! It was fun catching up with the kids and what they have been doing since we saw them in May. Marissa surprised me with a Starbucks card for my birthday...my favorite!

This morning we were supposed to meet Chip for brunch but he cancelled on us. We had a good breakfast at Huckleberry's without him! After Stephen gets off work today he and Chip are driving to San Francisco. They will pick up Craig and Claire from their honeymoon trip and spend a few days in San Francisco with them. Stephen said they called from the ship and said they were having a great time but sounded a bit homesick too! Can't wait to hear about their trip!

We head out tomorrow. We will be in Menifee tomorrow night and have an appointment at our Ford Service place that we like for the first oil change and to have them take a look at a couple of things. We have 6,000 miles on our truck which means we have driven over 5,500 miles since June 13th! Wow!

Spending time with Chip, Stephen & Marissa..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A nice 60th Birthday!

2011-07-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice birthday! It was nice to be able to easily slip into 60 years old!

Ted and I ran some errands and I had a white chocolate mocha for lunch (my favorite)! We visited with our friends Joel and Lale who live in Sacramento and we went to a local Italian restaurant. We had a good salad and shared a pizza! All very delicious!

Today we went to see the new Harry Potter movie and really enjoyed it! It's a wrap and done very well! To me it's amazing at how they made those movies. I'm sure they couldn't do it without computers, but it is very impressive!

Tomorrow we leave Sacramento and will be down in Fresno tomorrow afternoon. Craig (oldest) is still on his honeymoon. Chip (middle) may be on the road working so we may only see Stephen and his girlfriend! We will be there until Sunday morning.

Turning 60 years old..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in California!

2011-07-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we headed south on the Redwood Highway 101 into California. It is such a beautiful drive along the coast!

Our destination was Arcata, California, to visit our friends Denny and Sherry. Sherry picked us up yesterday and we went to the town square for lunch at the Big Blue Cafe. After lunch we walked around the shops in the square (skipping the several local taverns)! Then we went to the movies to see "Midnight in Paris". In the beginning of the movie they show you all around Paris and it brought back some great memories! We really enjoyed the movie!

We then went to see the new house Denny and Sherry recently purchased. Denny is a professor at Humboldt University. Sherry has her own computer business. She installs software for her clients and handles their computer problems. They are both planning to retire at the end of the next school year and now have their "retirement home"! It is a lovely two story home nestled in the redwoods. We took some pictures off of one section of their several decks overlooking the forest!

We then went back to the square and had a delicious Italian dinner with them. It was great visiting with Denny and Sherry for the day!

This morning we were back on the road south on Highway 101, headed for Sacramento. It is a twisty, winding road. You see some ocean, then mountains, trees and the Eel river! We turned east on 20 over hills and past Clear Lake (I was driving so no pictures). The lake is the largest natural freshwater lake entirely in California! It is 19 miles long by 8 miles wide! It seemed to have a lot of algae around the edges of the lake.

It was a lovely drive and we are now in Sacramento. We have some friends we will visit here for a few days.

Enjoying the California coastline..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Florence!

2011-07-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we visited the Oregon Dunes, about a mile down the road from our campground. The dunes are so large you can't even see the ocean! At the end of the road is the inlet to the Suislaw River and about 4 miles east is the bridge and Old Town Florence. 50 years ago European Beachgrass was introduced to help keep the sand from blowing away. Unfortunately, it takes over and is hard to get rid of. They can't dig it out, it grows back. They can't burn or flood it out. No animals like to eat it and it is impervius to bugs! It is keeping the sand in place however, and there were people out enjoying the dunes with ATV's and dune buggies!

Then we drove north up the coast of Oregon to see the Heceta Head Lighthouse. Pronounced “Ha – SEE – Ta” by most, “HECK – ah – Ta” by others, yet everyone agrees Heceta Head is one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world. The Heceta Head Lighthouse and Light Keeper’s house are circa 1894. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The lighthouse is closed for a year or two to visitors for rennovations but is still a working lighthouse. It is 205 feet above the ocean and casts a beam some 21 miles out to sea, the brightest light on the Oregon coast.

It is a beautiful drive along the coast. As we came back in town Ted noticed the Hot Rod Grill! Had to take a picture! Have no idea if the food is any good, but it sure is fun!

Seeing the "light of the seas"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A day in Florence

2011-07-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a fun day in Florence. We took off from the campground crossing the Florence Oregon Bridge that was built in 1926 by Conde McCullough. The bridge is celebrated for it's Art Deco arches and romanesque design. Gracefully reaching across the Siuslaw River, the bridge is 4 miles inland from the Pacific. We had lunch in Old Town Florence right on the river at Traveler's Cove. I had the crab caeser salad with beer bread, yum!

We walked off our lunch with a little shopping! They have some great little shops. Ted bought me a pretty and unique pair of earrings and neclace for my birthday, we found a couple of gifts for friends and enjoyed talking to the shop owners. We ended up our shopping with coffee for me and a smoothie for Ted!

One of Ted's high school classmates, Ben Hatheway and his wife Diana, live in Florence. We gave them a call and they were available to meet us for dinner. We had dinner at the Firehouse Restaurant in Old Town Florence. We had a good dinner and then had a visit in their lovely home. They have beautiful gardens both in their front and back yards. Ben has a super duper communications center set up with ham gear and more. Diana creates beautiful greeting cards in her lovely studio and sells them at two stores in Old Town. Ben took us for a drive and showed us around town. They are really enjoying retirement in Florence!

Spending time with old and new friends..."Ain't life Grand!"

Florence, Oregon

2011-07-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got two new tires on the RV and then headed to Florence. It was another beautiful drive! We drove by Fern Ridge Lake which has six parks, including Perkins Peninsula, and offers a variety of day use recreation such as picnicking, swimming, sailing, powerboating, jet skiing, skiing, fishing, and hunting. The lake and surrounding extensive wetlands provide habitat for several species of wildlife and waterfowl. This Wildlife Refuge is home to an assortment of fish: crappie, bass, trout and catfish, carp; over 200 varieties of birds; and a lot of beavers, muskrats, nutria, otters, raccoons, opossums, deer and ground squirrels.

We drove through many beautiful pines, saw a deer on the side of the road and caught up with the Suislaw River. The river followed us all the way to Florence and to the Pacific Ocean. We are about 2 miles south of Florence and our campground is very wooded with lots of pine trees. I was reading the campground info and they had two notices about bears; what to do if you run across one and how to keep the garbage bins closed so they can't get in. This surprised me, and Max and I will not be out walking at night. We will also make lots of noise when taking our walk!

Ted and I are going into Florence and will look around the town today. We will be here until Saturday and we are so thankful to be in a cool part of the country. We feel bad for those suffering the heat around the country!

Watching out for bears..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Harrisburg Oregon

2011-07-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

We left Sunriver Oregon this morning and traveled over the Cascade Mountain range toward Eugene. It was sunny one minute and then cold and cloudy the next. It rained on us several times. It was such a pretty drive over the mountain. Lots of pine trees and the McKenzie River runs along side a lot of the highway! I found out that Oregon has 51 covered bridges, the most of anywhere west of the Mississippi River. We actually saw one of them today and I captured a picture as we drove by.

We got to the River Bend campground in Harrisburg. It is a nice campground right on the Williamette River. When I was walking Max, a lady walking her dog mentioned seeing a muskrat eating grass. Max and I found it eating away! It wasn't even too bothered by us. I didn't get too close but did get it's picture. The Freightliner chassis that is in the picture, is parked in an RV spot. Apparently they are having some sort of class so it is set up for the demonstration. The RV park also has a hotel and lots of banquet rooms!

Tomorrow morning we go south to Junction City, about 5 miles, to Camping World to get two new tires for the RV. From there we will go back down to Eugene and then west to Florence on the coast!

Taking a beautiful drive over the mountains..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Sunriver Oregon

2011-07-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today we went sightseeing. Our first stop was the Lava River Cave. This is the longest lava tube in Oregon at one mile in length and carried 2000 degrees fahrenheit of lava approximately 100,000 years ago. It is 42 constant degrees cold and very very dark! The cold hits you before you even enter the cave! We went in and were surprised at the amount of ice inside the beginning of the cave. There was a lot of dripping water that formed the ice pyramids! Ted has twisted his knee so we didn't walk too far into the cave because it drops straight down and you are walking on a jumble of volcanic rocks! We figured that was too much for us but enjoyed what we did see!

It was now lunch time so we decided to take the scenic drive up through Sunriver to Mt. Bachelor and around to Elk Lake before heading back to the campground. Mt. Bachelor has had 665 inches of snow this year. The highest since the last La Nina winter in 1998-99 of 606 inches. It was about 50 degrees up there and still had quite a bit of snow. We dropped down to Elk Lake at 4893 feet. There is a small resort and 390 acres of lake with a depth of 75 feet. There is a small marina and boat ramp! It was drizzling so we sat in the truck and looked out at the lake while we ate our lunch!

We will leave here on Tuesday and are going west to Junction City to Camper World to purchase two new tires for the trailer. From there we are going over to Florence Oregon on the Coast.

Snow in July..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Our 11th anniversary in Bend/Sunriver Oregon!

2011-07-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we started our anniversary off with a lazy morning then took off for the Old Mill District in Bend. A recommendation by our friend Kittye Wallis. She loves this area and gave us lots of great suggestions.
The "old" mill is really all new shops of all kinds such as REI and Orvis; and shops such as Talbots, Chicos, Coldwater Creek (my personal favorite) and more. They have movie theaters and lots of restaurants throughout. During the summer they have free concerts, fundraising bike rides and more. I can imagine how packed they must get because the area was very busy yesterday in the early afternoon. And, it is along side the Deschutes River, a huge recreation area. We saw people in canoes and kyaks from Sunriver north to Bend. In the back ground is Mt. Bachelor that still has lots of snow. It is all very beautiful!

For nearly a century, timber production was the unchallenged king in Bend, most of it taking place in the Old Mill District. Hardy men used axes, crosscut saws, horses, and "high-wheel" rigs to cut down huge Ponderosa pines in the surrounding forests. "Mill B" site makes up the largest portion of the current Old Mill District. At the peak, Mill A and B were the largest pine sawmills in the world, running around the clock and employing more than 2,000 workers each. In 1950, facing dwindling timber supplies, the area was reduced to Mill A which closed in 1983 and was in a state of near ruin before being restored in the early 1990s. The old brick powerhouse buildings and their three towering smokestacks still stand, silently testifying to the district's colorful past.

After wandering around the Old Mill area Ted and I went south to Sunriver. It is a planned community and a huge resort area of 3300 acres. They have four golf courses with one running throughout the resort itself. They have a spa, fitness center, an airport for small planes and a marina where they rent kyaks and canoes. They have tons of restaurants and a little shopping area. There are 35 miles of pedestrian and bicycle walkways, 26 tennis courts, two pools and more.

We chose to go to dinner at the Trout House, a small restaurant right on the Deschutes River at the marina. We were there early and got a seat right on the river where we could watch the kyaks and canoes returning to the boat ramp next to the restaurant or to the marina. We had a great server. I ordered a strawberry margarita and it came in a small hi-ball glass with a silver milkshake container for the rest of it! It was huge! Ted had wine. For happy hour they had a lady making small homade cheese stuffed tortillas right there in the restaurant. They were delicious. We had a delicious dinner (I had shrimp stuff empanadas) and the waitress brought us icecream drizzled with fresh strawberries for our anniversary treat!

Watching out the window it was getting darker and darker so we headed back to the campground...just in time. We got inside and the skies opened up. It was pouring rain, thundering and lightning! It even started to hail for awhile! Max got scared with all of the thunder! Luckily it stays light until after 9:00 p.m. and the sky cleared up, not a cloud anywhere! Max and I went out for a walk along with all the other dogs!

Loving my husband..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Anniversary to Ted & Susan (and Larry & Carol Wallis)

2011-07-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Today Ted and I are sharing our 11th year of marriage! Larry and Carol...a lot more!

The last two days we have spent at the RV rally in Redmond. They have seminars, exhibits, stuff for sale and a ton of RVs to look at! I had to forcibly restrain Ted from buying a new Monaco Motor Home! LOL! Anyway, we've tried to take it all in! The rally continues through Sunday but today we are taking the day off to go sightseeing in the area. Not exactly sure what we are going to see today but there are lava caves, museums, the old mill area and the resort area! I'm sure we will find something to see!

The mountains are beautiful around here and still have snow. I haven't gotten a good picture yet but I hope to soon! Our campsite is among the pines as you can see:

Enjoying our anniversary..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Oregon!

2011-07-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

On Sunday in Idaho, Max and I walked down to the river before lots of people showed up and I stood on the seawall! The river is really full...as you can see!

We got to Bend late yesterday afternoon and were not able to arrive early to our campground so we parking lot camped at Walmart along with 12 other RV'ers! We got to our campground this morning and got set up. I was glad we were early because there were 40 campers coming in today and we found a good spot this morning! There are lots of pines and you really feel as though you are camping out in the woods. There is also a lot of space between campsites.

We had to go to Bend to get a certified check for our Ford South Dakota registration and looked around town a little bit. We came back to the campground and visited the "Town Square"! They have some cute old buildings they use for the cafe, the book exchange and country store!

Tomorrow we will go north about 30 miles to Redmond for the RV ralley. There are lots of things to do in the area so it will be a busy week!

Yesterday we had a rock hit our windshield and put an 8" crack in it. The rock hit right at the base of the windshield. A 1/4 inch lower and it would have hit medal! There happened to be a windshield repair guy parked across from us so we had him "fix" the windshield. We'll see if that holds and keeps it from spreading until we can replace it. It looks a lot better!

Enjoying the smell of pine trees...."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Idaho!

2011-07-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning we left Colorado Springs heading north to Wyoming. We had a call from our mail service who is trying to register our new truck in South Dakota for us. I needed to print the checklist and get a power of attorney notarized authorizing them to do this for us. Ted was driving and I was calling to find a notary that was in an RV friendly area! We found a Wells Fargo that had a notary and it was slightly outside Cheyenne so we took a chance. There was a side street right next to the bank where we could park without unhooking the RV. Within 30 minutes we were back on the road with a notarized document and a chocolate chip cookie!

We then headed west across Wyoming, hit some more hard rain and found a campground in Rawlins, Wyoming. Ted had been watching the tire that was on our RV middle axle passenger side (same side as leaf spring problem). He was worried about it so yesterday we looked for a tire place. They wanted about $100 more than Camping World for each tire so Ted had them switch tires around and we will get the tires later on.

I didn't post any pictures of our leaf spring so decided to do that this morning as follows:

Yesterday after getting our tires moved around we kept heading west to Ogden, Utah and then north into Idaho. We have seen bison, antelopes, llamas and alpaca's along the way! We arrived in Declo, Idaho around 5:30 and called it a day. We are now less than 500 miles to Bend, Oregon (our destination) and have decided to spend two nights here. It is such a pretty campground, lots and lots of green grass, a nature trail next to the river and lots of trees. We will recharge our batteries (bodies) and get laundry done before continuing west!

Yesterday afternoon the temperatures were in the high 80's but this morning it was a chilly, damp 53 degrees! Lovely for a nice morning walk with Max!

Lots of green, not money, but trees and grass..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it out of Texas...whew!

2011-07-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting day on the road. It was about 93 degrees this morning when we left the campground. We made it to Dalhart, Texas and had to go under a train overpass. There is normally a by-pass sign or Truck Route sign but we found none. Our rig is 13'6" and the overpass was only 13'7" and very steep in the middle. That means if we hit a bump, we could lose our air conditioner YIKES! We found a place to pull over and we called the local police to ask for directions. They sent a police car to our location and he drove us about 10 miles to where we needed to be without going under the overpass! True midwest courtesy!

We continued on NW and into New Mexico. The temperatures went down to the low 80 degrees. Our drive through New Mexico was uneventful (for us that's a good thing)! We stopped for fuel and I took the wheel. I even backed up a little way to miss a rock (I don't back up very well)! Ted spotted some antelope along the way and before we knew it we were in Colorado. We had been climbing and our outside temperature went down into the high 60 degrees. Such a change from the three weeks plus at over 100 degrees every single day!

After awhile the temperature started up again and hit 93 degrees. Then when we got to Pueblo, Colorado, we had a front row seat to a ton of lightning right in front of us! It was quite something. As we neared the lightning, we started hearing thunder and the rain started. For about 3 or 4 miles it poured! People started pulling over to the side of the road and fortunately slowed down to a crawl. We couldn't see very far in front of the truck! The temperature came down again to the low 60 degrees!

We stopped again for fuel, our new truck holds 37 gallons, our old truck held 59. We may have to buy an add on tank when we save up some money! Diesel is running about $3.79. Ted took over driving and then we hit some more rain. His navigator (who is not to be named), made a change in the campground plan at the last minute and then figured out it was about 15 miles out of town so we had to do a turn around but finally got back on the road and made it to the campground here in Colorado Springs!

The outside temperature is now 64 degrees! YAY! Max was getting stir crazy with a long day while RV got worked on and two long days of driving so we had a nice long cool walk after dinner!

Enjoying the cool weather and rain..."Ain't Life Grand!"

On the road again!

2011-07-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we went with John and Deanna to John and Jennifer's house. They were neighbors of John and Deanna's for several years and they've kept in touch with each other. They have a lovely home and we had a nice visit before we all went to dinner at Poke (Pok-E) Joe's Barbeque. I had delicious pork ribs and beef brisket with cherry cobbler and Ted had the brisket and sausage with peach cobbler. We really enjoyed our dinner!

This morning didn't start out so well. We got up at 6:00 and had the RV ready to go by 8:00 because the Good Sam Road Service was supposed to call at 8:00 to confirm we still needed a tow (duh)! So by 8:20 I called them. She called back at 8:30 and told me the tow truck would be there at 8:20 (huh?)! I asked her to repeat that and decided she must mean 9:20! The tow truck showed up at 9:30 and we were at the RV Repair shop by 10:00. We took off so I could get my nails done while Ted and Max tried to stay cool in the truck (impossible) and then we grabbed some lunch and ate in the truck. We went back to the RV place at about 12:30 and they had not even looked at the RV yet (hmmm)! Finally at 1:30 they took a look and fortunately the leaf spring was in stock. They got it, put it on and put on our spare brake pad (one was missing). Fortunately the rotor was okay. They put on our spare tire and finally at 4:30 p.m. we were on our way! We decided to drive for an hour to make sure everything was okay, and it seems to be!

It was well over 100 again today and we are still trying to cool down the RV down, it was 91 degrees inside at 7:00 when we got settled! We only have 30 amps so can only run one air conditioner. It was too hot to cook so we had cold cereal for dinner-yum!

Happy to be on the road again toward Oregon and cooler weather hopefully..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy July 4th from Georgetown, Texas!

2011-07-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ted and I hope all of you have a happy and safe 4th of July! Remember Independence Day is the anniversary of the publication of the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776.

On Saturday Ted and I took a drive to the historic downtown Georgetown square. The Monument Cafe (bronze award winner) was highly recommended so we had lunch there. The diner only serves fresh, locally grown and homemade food. Boy everything was delicious!

Yesterday Joe and Sue the hosts for the Palo Duro RV rally we attended in June took us to Dos Salsas for lunch. The restaurant was a gold medal winner. We tried to get there before the church crown but it was still very busy. Ted had soft beef brisket tacos and I had flaquitas; two flour tortillas stuffed with chicken and lightly deep fried, topped with ranchero sauce and Monterrey jack cheese, really delicious!

They drove us around Georgetown showing us the river, one of the lakes, the area where they live, the movie theaters and a nail place for me! It was fun seeing their town and talking with them.

In the afternoon we had neighbors, John and Deanna (whom we also met at the rally) over for a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers. It was fun getting to know them better.

This morning we went to the movies to see Transformers. We enjoyed the movie and are home taking it easy in the air conditioning. It is still over 100 every day and does not cool off like San Diego in the evenings. This evening we are going out to a barbeque restaurant with Joe and Deanna.

As you can tell, we are getting plenty to eat!

Enjoying the fourth in Georgetown..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Kercher Saga Continues...

2011-07-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

In the continuing saga of the Kercher RV and/or truck problems...the RV is now the problem! We were happily on our way north, around 2:00 p.m. pulled in to a rest stop (to rest our bladders) when Ted noticed a problem. The leaf spring had broken on the 3rd axle of the RV. The axle was pushed forward and about 2 inches of tread was rubbed off. We were lucky we didn't have a blow out! There is a ton of tire rubber on the side of the RV as well.

We called our Good Sam Road Side service and they went to work on finding us some place that could fix the RV. Of course being Friday afternoon before the 4th of July holiday weekend they found nothing until Tuesday. Okay, now to find a tow truck. We were between Austin and Waco Texas in a rural area and the one tow truck large enough was in the shop until Sat. We could stay in the rest stop for 24 hours (and only 24 hours according to the bureacrats in charge of the rest stop)! But it was over 100 degrees and we were not sure if the generator would last all night to keep us cool, not a very desireable thought. So Good Sam kept looking and found us a tow truck, not one that had a dolly to hold the RV wheels (6 of them), but an experienced driver...Woody!

The tow truck got there about 4:00 p.m. Woody tried to tie the axle up to no avail but he took off the tire and got the RV hooked up to the tow truck and off we went. We followed to keep an eye on the axle as it was only about 6 inches from the ground and a large bump would not be good. We got to the RV repair facility around 5:45 p.m. and it had closed at 5:00 p.m. There was a locked gate right to the road so no way we could even put the RV inside the gate.

This turned out to be the good news. Good Sam only wanted to tow us once so we were going to be towed to the repair facility and we would have to stay in a hotel. We called Holiday Inn Express and for $99.00 per night we could stay there, oh and that would be $40 per night for Max (and he doesn't even get his own room much less his own bed)! Since the RV place was closed they allowed us to be towed to a campground and will pick up the RV on Tuesday morning (since they weren't going to work on until then, it makes more sense to us anyway). Now we don't have to rent a room and eat all those meals at restaurants!

When I was registering at the campground here in Georgetown TX, a woman comes in and she is one of the couples that was at the RV rally in Palo Duro Texas! They are staying here getting their RV refrigerator worked on and since they used to live in the area, getting their doctor appts done! They are full-time RV'ers also. Another couple from the rally live in town but they may be visiting their kids for the holiday weekend! They tell us there are fun things to do here such as the Berry Springs Farm and the town square which has shops and restaurants! We'll be sure to check it all out!

So "As the World Turns" and other exciting Kercher adventures..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A day at the Bass Pro Shop!

2011-06-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we met our friends Pam, Jon and their Grandson Nick at the Bass Pro Shop. Nick and Pam had not been there before and Nick loves fishing and guns so we thought it would be right up his alley! We had a great time looking at everything from ATV's, fishing boats, party boats, guns, clothes, shoes, things for the home and much much more! The place is huge. They have fish ponds, a shooting gallery, a climbing wall and more. I think Pam and I had just as much fun as the guys! We looked around, played on everything, shot the stuff in the shooting gallery and then we all had lunch in their restaurant, The Fish Company. They had a huge salt water aquarium and if you watched Nick you would have guessed that he was watching tv. I don't think he ever took his eyes off of the fish (maybe planning how to catch them)! Lunch was good and it was a fun time!

We've been having dinner with John in the evenings and tonight will be our last dinner together. Tomorrow morning we still stop to get the air checked in the tires on the 5th wheel then we will head north on I-35 through Austin and stop for the night around Waco. From San Antonio it takes two days no matter which way you go to get through Texas!

This morning we saw one of the baby fawns on the side of the road. It was laying in the grass but still alive, had probably been hit by a car. We notified the park so someone would take care of it. We didn't want it suffering. There are sooo many deer and sooo many get hit by cars, they don't get too excited by it but it was sad. The babies are so cute.

This little one still has it's spots!

The town of Boerne is getting ready for the 4th of July. There is a park near the Guadalupe River that is having a concert and yesterday they had these little flags along all the walk ways. There is a walk way around the whole park and then four walk ways to the center like this one! It looked really cool!

Leaving Boerne for hopefully cooler weather......"Ain't Life Grand!"

Seeing new friends in Boerne!

2011-06-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had dinner with Lou and Carol. We met them at the "Traveling Supremes" RV rally in Palo Duro, Texas. They live in Boerne and invited us over for dinner. They have a lovely ranch style house on 6 acres of land in the hills on the outskirts of Boerne. He has a nice barn for his RV to keep it out of the weather. He showed us a great run-off water system he devised. If it rains an inch he ends up with 1200 gallons of water! He has four large tanks under an aluminum roof that collect the water that falls on the roof. He has room under it for two more large tanks. I think he holds about 20,000 gallons of water right now. The water goes through several filters before going through the tank. He uses the water for house and yard. It was very interesting and well done.

Unfortunately, Carol had a call from her son and she had to leave to take her mom to Urgent Care to have her eye looked at. Lou was a gracious host and served up a delicious pork roast stuffed with mild jalapeno's (a little spicy but I ate around them), green beans and sweet potatoes. For dessert he cooked biscuits with strawberries and cream. When I was helping clean up I noticed he forgot to serve the nice salad Carol had set up on plates for us. We were too full to eat them to keep Carol from finding out!!! We called them this morning and her mom is doing okay!

There is a restaurant north of Boerne called Popo's Restaurant. It was started in 1929 as a dance hall and has a colorful history. Carol's Grandfather bought it in 1950 and made it into a family restaurant. The family would close for one month a year and her Grandfather took the whole family on vacation and started collecting plates from their travels which adorn the walls of the restaurant. There are 2000+ plates on the walls! The family sold the business in 1983 but Carol's mother who is 86 years old, still works there making the salads! Carol said she started there at age 8 and worked there for a long time! Ted's cousin Gloria and John have taken us to there and we recall that it was a cute restaurant with really good food!

Today we are hanging out at the campsite.

Getting some chores done..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still in Boerne!

2011-06-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

On Thursday morning we were having breakfast when Ted noticed a little fawn with it's mother. It still looked soaking wet and it's legs weren't working very well like it had just been born! I tried to take a picture through the window so I wouldn't startle them, but it didn't turn out too well. It was nursing mama and you can see how little it is from the picture!

For lunch we met a friend, Laura, who has lived in Boerne a long time but whom Ted had met in San Diego. She has gone back to school at the University of San Antonio so that she may teach school. She has two more years of college and then depending on the economy, will teach or go back for her Masters degree. I give her a lot of credit for going back to school.   Her two daughters are both married now and doing very well. It was fun catching up with her.

After lunch we went back to John's.  I cooked dinner and when he got home from work we spent some time with him before heading home!

Yesterday we dropped Max off at John's and took off to San Antonio. Our shade was restrung and we wanted to visit the Guenther House. The Guenther family started the Pioneer Flour mill which is still a working mill. Next to the mill, the historic family home is a restaurant, store for the flour mill and small museum. We enjoy visiting it and of course purchased a bag of sweet cream pancakes and sweet cream waffles! The last time we were at the Guenther house,  they were in the process of extending the Riverwalk which runs right by the house. It is now finished and looks very nice!

We got to John's in the afternoon and played cards (Phase 10) and I was the big winner! We decided to go to dinner at Chris Madrid's down in a not so nice part of San Antonio! They have the biggest, cheesiest hamburgers that are soooo good! We were stuffed and went home and relaxed our tummies!

This morning John took us down to San Antonio to go to the Mercado, the market place. We drove around for awhile and didn't find it so decided to abandon that idea and go have lunch. We were all still full from the night before so we went to Souper! Salad. We had a good lunch and went back to John's. He had a lodge event to attend, so we ran some errands. This afternoon we played another game of Phase 10! Again...I was the big winner! (That is very unusual)! For dinner we had John's homemade apple cake! That's it, dessert for dinner! It was delicious!

Eating dessert for dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fun in Boerne (inspite of the heat)!

2011-06-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

We are having a good time in Boerne. On Tuesday we met up with our friends Pam and Jon Pullen. Jon and Ted worked together in San Diego. After Jon retired they moved to Denver, Colorado and spent a year there. They loved the weather (brrrr) but they missed their family that had moved to San Antonio, Texas. So in April they moved to San Antonio. They have a nice apartment in a very nice area of San Antonio and if they decide to stay here, will eventually buy a house! We had lunch and enjoyed catching up with them.

Tuesday evening we went over to John's house and brought him dinner. I made a chicken and rice meal (one of my Dinner Studio meals). He got a call from his realtor and they are a step closer to getting the house. The sellers had two offers and chose John and Gloria's. The next step is for approval by the seller's lender because it is a short sale! We hope that it is just a formality since the bank had approved the sales price.

Around 1 a.m. a storm came in bringing a lot of lightning and then it got closer and there was a lot of thunder. When it rained, it poured! We got quite a bit of rain. It was not as hot yesterday, but more humid!

We took Max to get groomed yesterday. After dropping him off we went into San Antonio to drop off our day/night shade for restringing. Then we went to the movies. We saw Super 8 and really enjoyed it. It sort of brings you back to your childhood. I thought the kids were great in the movie! After we picked up Max we came home and I got some laundry done (yay!).

I've taken a few pictures in the last couple of days. The deer are still abundant here and we've seen several tiny fawns. The larger deer sort of glide around but the babies bounce around! They are so cute.

Time in Boerne..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Eating way to much in Boerne!

2011-06-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Ted's cousin Gloria is off in Illinois, so we are keeping an eye on her husband John. He even cooked dinner for us on Father's Day! We had ham and beans and cornbread, a good southern meal even though he's originally from Illinois! He had fried potatoes and a vegetable tray as well. He even made a marble cake with chocolate frosting! Eating way too much food!

Tonight we brought him dinner. I put the crockpot on with one of my Dinner Studio meals, Arroz Con Pollo (chicken and rice). It also had vegetables and we had a nice salad and leftover cornbread and of course more cake!

John and Gloria have been thinking about buying a new house. Their daughter and her family sold their house and are moving in closer to town (Boerne) and there is a house a couple of blocks away from where they are building a house that is for sale for a good price. We went over to see it for the second time with John and he put his offer in on it. They said there was another offer in so we'll see what happens. It's really a nice house and has a lot of upgrades on the inside. They are okay either way. It's a bigger house and two stories. It will be a good house for Gloria's day care. She takes care of four babies. She only babysits for teachers or school principals. Works out great because she has the summer off.

Still loving our truck in Boerne..."Ain't Life Grand!"

New truck does great and Happy Father's Day to you fathers!

2011-06-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good test for our new truck. We finally left about 10:30 am and got down to Boerne about 7:00 pm, fortunately it stays light here until about 9:30 pm! We varied our speed as required for a new truck and reached 1000 miles around 6:00 last night! We reached temperatures of 111 degrees and the truck handled the heat with no problem (engine and inside cab). We enjoyed our Sirius radio all day and even talked a couple of times on the hands free phone! The new truck rides so much smoother than the old truck, it is great! Everything worked like it's supposed to and we are keeping our fingers crossed! Of course one drive does not a truck make! Our old truck started great (not smooth but problem free) until it reached the two year, 60,000 mile mark! It was down hill after that! So we shall see but we are feeling positive vibes from it!!! LOL

We have been slow starting this morning but are heading over to spend Fathers day with John, Ted's cousin's husband! He is actually cooking for us!

The deer here are still abundant and we even saw a tiny little fawn that still had it's spots, about the size of our dog Max but with skinny legs!

Breathing a little easier with the new truck..."Ain't Life Grand!"

YAY! We have our new truck!

2011-06-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

We picked up our new truck today! It is really nice. They finished the hitch this afternoon and we took possession of the truck!

It has more bells and whistles two old people like us can figure out but we will have lots of fun learning! Mainly we hope it is not a yellow citrus fruit (if you get my drift) and are happy to have another 100,000 mile warranty! We have the navagation/sirius radio, a moon roof, heated and air conditioned seats (which we used today in the 105 degree weather), dual climate control and so much more! Ted would talk about the technical stuff so if your interested you'll have to ask him!

The great thing is the way it rides, it is so smooth compared to our other truck and any truck I've been in! Tomorrow will be the big test to see how it pulls the RV! We are heading back down to Boerne and will be there until the 1st! We will keep you posted! I took a couple of pictures:

Our sales team and us with the new truck!

Max likes it too!

The interior is in adobe leather. The navagation system screen is a touch screen and it comes with finger prints! LOL.

A beautiful new truck..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Never easy!

2011-06-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Our Ford salesman, John, has been very good about keeping us posted on the status of our new truck. They got it in yesterday and of course, he told us "it's beautiful"! Later he called and told us our old truck was sold and the new owner was driving it!

Then he called to discuss the 5th wheel package. Ted had asked a lot of questions about what that entailed before we made the deal and because it wasn't explained in the brochure. It included things we needed such as the electrical set up to plug in the electrical for the trailer and more. But what they didn't tell us, it had rails underneath the truck that only fit the hitch that you would have to buy from Ford. We have a hitch that we really like and didn't want to buy a new one. No problem! The problem came when they found that what was installed underneath the truck did not allow our hitch to fit. Ted told them to remove it, he had looked at it and thought they would only have to remove the exhaust pipes and a few bolts and that would be it. Well, yesterday when John called he said they would have to remove the bed, remove the rails and reinstall the bed. Ted told him this was a show stopper, that they had all of our money they were going to get! When he called back he had approval for $350 toward it and the rate would be at the mechanics rate not the Ford rate. Then, within an hour he called and said it was done, that 5 techs got under there and removed the bolts, lifted it out, removed the rails and were bolting it back in place when he called! So we'll see how much they charge us.

Gloria is getting ready for her trip. Yesterday we went shopping and when we got home she made a Mississippi Mud Cake. Boy are they fattening but delicious! Max is happy to have green grass in the back yard, squirrels, birds and a dog next door to chase!

Tomorrow morning we will head back up to Canyon, Texas, about 500 miles north and a little west of us. We are keeping our fingers crossed everything will be okay with the new truck! I'll post a picture when we get it!

Trials and tribulations of buying a new vehicle..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in Boerne, Tx!

2011-06-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

We made it down to Boerne in the "borrowed" F150! Seems so small compared to the F550! So far everything has gone as planned with getting the new truck and we will drive back up to Canyon, Texas on Thursday to pick it up. Hopefully everything will continue to be on schedule and it will be ready for us when we get there, with the bed liner sprayed in and our hitch put in the bed! They have already sold our truck so it better be as they have said it is! When we get back to San Diego we will have to ship them the tail gate (at their expense).

We are enjoying being with Gloria and John. When we arrived on Sunday we went with them to look at a new house they are thinking about buying! It's really a nice house and will be a good buy. If they go for it they will have a bigger house and yard! They have a lot to think about!

Gloria is getting ready to go back to Illinois on Wednesday to see her Mom, Brother and friends. Her daughter Cheryl and her three kids: Haley, Oliva and Jack are also going. She's been packing this morning and is now making a fabulous sounding dessert while I'm blogging! Gloria is a great cook! Yesterday we all played cards with Haley and Oliva. They are both very good at Phase 10! They are good kids!

Still hot in Texas..."Ain't Life Grand!"