The rolling rally continues...

On Friday our group took off in different directions.  We went with Jerry and Hessie shopping in Cortez and to the church bazaar!  Ted got me a beautiful pair of Onyx and Opal earrings and necklace!  Then our group met up at the Guy Drew Vineyards outside of town.  We all had fun doing a tasting and even found some wine to buy!

Friday evening we attended the buffet at the casino.  I had a huge pile of crab legs and ate every bite!  Everyone had a good dinner and a little gambling and back to the campground preparing to leave on Saturday!

Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona

On Saturday morning we headed to Monument Valley to the Gouldings Campground.  We all arrived safely and settled in.  We were all on our own on Saturday afternoon and Ted and I went over to the Lodge and took a look in the gift shop and the museum.   There is a lot of movie history in the valley as well as the interesting story behind the Gouldings and their arrival in the Valley. 

On Sunday Ted and I drove to the Gooseneck State Park.  The San Juan River “goosenecks” around the canyon, it is pretty interesting how the land rose up around the river.

We came back to the Lodge and had a nice lunch before heading back to the campground.  I had put 5lbs of Pot Roast in the crockpot and Hessie had added potatoes, carrots and onions.  The other ladies made delectable items and we had a great dinner!

On Monday morning we all met before 8:00 a.m. for our 3 ½ hour Monument Valley tour.  We had arranged it so it would just be our group.   It was a great tour and you can appreciate how the Valley got its name.  We also were able to tour a part of the Valley that people are not allowed to visit unless they are on certain tours.  We stopped at a home and got a demonstration on spinning sheep wool into yarn and on making a rug in a real Navajo Hogan.  The young Navajo woman had gone to college but was back in the family home helping out.  She made it really look easy!

We asked the drive to stop by the Lodge restaurant on the way back to the campground and he agreed and said he’d come back and get us and take us the ½ mile back to the campground.  We had a good lunch!   We had an ice cream social for dinner that evening!

On Tuesday, everyone did their own thing and we met for dinner at 5:00.  Lou and Carol were barbecuing chicken for the group.  It was pouring down rain but we managed to have our picnic under the cover.  We had a delicious dinner and met an interesting couple visiting from Germany.  We were fine until it started thundering and lightning!

Moab, Utah

We headed to Moab Wednesday morning.  We again arrived safely.  We decided to go to town for dinner and Lou picked Pasta Jays.  We had a good dinner and were joined by John and Romola, part of the Travel Supreme club that had been up in Oregon at Fort Vancouver and met us in Moab!

On Thursday we were on our own and several of us headed to Arches National park.  We spent several hours touring and then had a picnic lunch in the park.  It is such a pretty park and I enjoyed visiting it again.  Thursday evening we had a group potluck of soups, salad, dessert and more. 

Friday everyone was on their own again hiking, sightseeing and more.  Ted was busy cooking his “famous” enchiladas.  Which ended up being his “famous enchilada casserole”!  He was busy chopping onions, cooking hamburger and compiling the ingredients to make the casserole.  The casserole was delicious and the ladies again, had wonderful side dishes!

Before dinner on Thursday, I was speaking with one of the ladies in the campground and the lightning started with a huge clap of thunder.  Within seconds it was hailing and pouring rain!  Then again after dinner the “weather” started again!  During the night, there was the loudest clap of thunder I ever remember hearing with a huge bolt of lightning!  We all sat straight up in bed.  Sophie, who sleeps through everything, was startled!  Then the pouring rain and blustery wind started.  We felt very sorry for the little pop up camper with tent like slides!

Today four of the ladies had a shopping trip in town.  We visited several stores and bought a few things before having a nice lunch!  This afternoon we are planning a visit to the Moab Brewery for snacks and drinks.  If the rain subsides, we are planning to visit the North and South Windows in Arches for sunset…will keep you posted!

Motorhome arrived and we are "on the road again!"

I've been derelict in my blog duties, but things got incredibly crazy once the RV came in!  The motorhome arrived on the 20th to La Mesa RV in San Diego.  We got over there in the afternoon to see  it.  The good news; the generator and air conditioners were correct!  The dinette table on the first unit had been blocked by some switch plates (design error).  That was fixed but the table still won't make into a bed because they screwed the lever to the table and that lever needs to move to allow the table to go down to make into a bed.  We are making our warranty repair list for when we go by the factory!

Then there is the refrigerator story!  We originally ordered the gas/electric fridge. We had one that was a side by side and held a ton of stuff!  The gas/electric arrived with a very small freezer on top, the refrigerator part was ok.  We asked if they could order the new replacement RV with a side by side.  Then we spoke to Mike and Sandy Adamson, friends that also have a Phaeton motor home.  They have the all electric fridge with extra batteries.  They had really wanted a gas fridge as well but they chose an RV off the lot.  They had La Mesa put solar panels on the roof and they have been ok with it for the six months they have had it.  So we ordered our second RV this way!  So naturally it came with the same gas/electric fridge with the small freezer.  The service manager told us that they are having problems with the all electric chewing up the batteries and he personally would not want the all electric.  Of course I then asked him what I was supposed to do with all that food I had currently in my freezer that wouldn't fit in the small freezer!    The sales manager then suggested they give us a freezer in the slide out for additional space.  We all agreed, including Ted who had to give up some of his space for it!

On Friday we rushed around in the morning packing up the last few things and then we took the old RV to La Mesa RV where we were to sign papers, have a two hour walk through and transfer the items from old to new RV.  We got there and the service department had done their checklist but not anything on our list including the new freezer.  They said it had not come in.  So again I ask, what am I supposed to do with all my freezer stuff.

We had originally ordered in April allowing plenty of time for them to get and process the RV and for us to repack the RV before going to an RV rally, we were hosting!  Since we didn't accept the first one we were now out of time!  Around 3:30 the Service Manager came out said fridge had arrived and they could get it installed!  They also finished the other items that needed to be done.  We then worked until an hour past closing time to empty our old RV into our new RV, and orderly enough that they would be able to drive it to Yuma the next day.

La Mesa put us up in an hotel for the night and we finally got subs delivered about 8:30 and practically fell asleep while eating them we were so exhausted.  We got up early and were at La Mesa at 7:00 a.m. for our drive to Yuma.  We stopped an had breakfast and got to Yuma around noon  We signed the special form saying we took possession in Arizona (so we only have to pay our South Dakota 3% sales tax and licensing fees opposed to California fees, as we are residents of South Dakota)!  Here we are  in HOT Yuma picking up the RV!

 Ted loves his new motorhome!

Sophie too was excited about the new motorhome!

We took the motorhome back to Pio Pico Saturday evening.  Our friend Peggy and her son Scott came over to see the new RV and brought pizza with them.  The new few days are a blur!  On Sunday our friends Jim and Della Crownover (long time motorhome owners) helped us get EVERYTHING out of storage and in our RV and their car...amazing!  We went back to the campground and they helped us unpack on Sunday.  We unpacked more all day Monday and still had 9 boxes when we started traveling on Tuesday morning!

The motor home is ready to roll so much faster than the fifth wheel and we got off around 8:00 a.m.!  We made it to Kingman, Arizona on the first night.  We unpacked a couple more boxes and fortunately the campground had taco night and we were able to eat without cooking or leaving the campground!

Wednesday morning we got ready to go at 8:00 a.m. again and our jacks would not go up.  We waited until 8:30 and called La Mesa service, they were in meetings until 10:30.  We then called the Tiffen factory in Alabama.  They walked us through a few things and then told Ted how to raise them manually.  They thought it might be a solenoid problem and gave us a few service numbers down the road to try.  

We noted that La Mesa RV has a shop in Albuquerque, NM so we drove until 8:00 p.m. and made it to the campground across the freeway.    In the morning we drove over there and found that they are not allowed to work on Tiffen products because there was already a Tiffen dealer in town when they opened shop!  But, being a La Mesa customer, they would see what they could do.  Of course Ted had tried to lower the jacks the night before and they still didn't work.  We got there, they guy went out to look at them and they went up and down without a problem!  Murphy's Law!

Good news and we were on our way to Chama, NM about a 3-hour drive.  Every afternoon the clouds came in and most days we had rain, thunder and lightning and a rainbow!  

When we came in on Thursday we parked in a space and then on Friday we moved to a different space.  Our first space was a little tight but Ted had no trouble parking and Sophie enjoyed looking out the window!

When we moved to our new spot, we were putting out one of the larger slides and I yelled for Ted to stop.  Some kind of silver thing had dropped out of the slide.  It was one of the rollers.  The roller looks okay and Ted can peek inside and see that the bracket looks okay but its not something we can fix.  Fortunately it came back in and we will have to leave it in until we finish the rally.  We have an appointment up by Salt Lake city to have it repaired!

We were in Chama until Tuesday.  Thursday night I was happy to find out the plan was to go to the Cliffs restaurant.  We've always have a great meal there and have been able to feed the deer.  This year they weren't hungry but we still had a good meal!  It was good to see everyone and catch up on what was going on.  This year it is a smaller group of 12 plus the addition of a couple there in the park that joined the club!

On Saturday was the Chama Labor Day weekend arts festival.  Very interesting and I got a new pair of sandals and earrings!   Saturday night we cooked our  steaks and everyone brought stuff to share.

We got the last of our boxes unpacked on Sunday and at 6:00 we had an ice cream social!  After ice cream, the ladies played Liverpool Rummy and had a lot of laughs!

Monday morning Ted and I hosted an open house in our new Motorhome!  We had pastries, fruit, orange juice, mimosas and Dom Perignon Champagne!  All 14 showed up and at one time we had 12 comfortably inside at once.  Not everyone had chairs but everyone seemed okay!

On Tuesday we left Chama and are at the Sleeping Ute Mountain Casino and RV Park in Towaoc, southwest of Cortez, Colorado.  There are four other RV's with us for a total of 10 people!   The ladies decided to go over to the casino in the shuttle.   The campground gave us $5 per day to spend in the casino!  A couple of the ladies came back with a little bit of money.  I donated $20!

When I came back to the campground it had cooled down and it was pleasant enough to sit outside.  So thats what Ted, Sophie and I did!  We have a nice view from our site!

Later we all had dinner together in the Casino restaurant.  They have a table for 10 and it's great for us. When we got back to the campground, we had a double rainbow (almost)!

We have given the group some things to do and everyone was on their own on Wednesday.  We visited the Visitor Center in Cortez and the Anazasi Heritage Center in Delores.  We had lunch at a little bar and grill right by the Delores river.

In the afternoon we had "happy hour" at our place with some snacks.  Unfortunately it was hotter with no breeze and after awhile the "biting" flies drove us inside...the casino!  This time I was successful, came home with more money and a "happy camper"!

Today is another free day.  I'm blogging and washing.  Ted is going cross-eyed looking at the motorhome manuals!  Tonight is an "Indian buffet" at the casino so we are all planning to attend!

Sorry it's such a long blog!

Loving our new home..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Baseball Game Update!

Yesterday Trent's team played the Gorillas again.  They had tied with them on Saturday.  They were up first and scored 4 runs.  The Show was up and did not score.  Our pitcher pitched well in the second inning and then we scored 2 runs in the bottom of the second inning.  In the third inning our pitcher got in trouble and with two on base and two outs they brought in Trent!

WOW was he ever on!  He got the batter out in 4 pitches!  He went on to pitch the rest of the game and pitched really well.  In the fourth inning Trent had three strikeouts!   In the fifth inning they were able to score two more runs off of fluke hits that our players were unable to get, and unfortunately our team was unable to score any more runs.  The Show lost the game and ended up in third place for the tournament, but it was so much fun watching Trent pitch a terrific game.

Great (unbiased) pitching..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Uneventful Week!

Our RV still has not arrived :( which means we have to decide to leave without it or miss part of the rally.  We take over our part of the rally on September 3rd so if it arrives in the next few days, La Mesa RV will have it for a few days and then we can rush like crazy to repack everything and rush to Colorado.  I will probably call today to see if there is an update.  I'm beginning to think it's broken down on the road somewhere or crashed and they don't want to tell us!

Okay, on the positive side, we had a very good dinner with our friend Meg Mcguire on Wednesday night at a Mexican restaurant.  She was very disappointed that we had left Sophie at home but we thought we'd give her Golden Retriever, Rose, a break and not leave them alone together for Sophie to terrorize and drive her crazy!

On Friday we had a enjoyed lunch with our friends Jim and Della Crownover at the Galley at the Harbor in Chula Vista.  It was so nice to be by the bay enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and the water!  The food there is always good and you just can't beat the ambiance!  After lunch we had fresh baked cookies at Jim and Della's.

Friday night we took Sophie to Jeri and Stach's house to play in the yard while we went to dinner.  Our friend Sherri was visiting Jeri overnight on her way to Texas so we had a chance to visit with her and introduce her to Sophie!

Yesterday we attended one of two of Trent's baseball games.  The first game was at 8:30 in Poway so we missed that one and of course Trent played centerfield.  They won 11-0 so after 4 innings the game was called.  We attended the second game and Trent batted but did not play in the field.  He hit a ground ball and was out at first but got an RBI.  His second time up to bat he smacked it way out in centerfield but the ball was caught!  The tournament is a "wood bat tournament" and his hit sounded really good!  The game ended up in a 4-4 tie.  There will be more games today.  Miss Sophie will not be happy to be left alone again!

Sophie did not have to go out all night last night!  YAY!  Ted had to go twice so he woke us up but she was a good girl!  LOL

More baseball to come..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Great baseball!

We have had four great days of baseball at the Perfect Game Tournament!  Trent's team the Show won the first two games on Thursday by a lot!  Trent was the starting pitcher in the second game and pitched three innings.  He did a great job and they were ahead 5-0 when they put in a different pitcher.   On Friday they played two games and the Show won both again!  On Saturday they played the semi-final game.  Trent came in to pitch the 5th inning with a person on third and two outs.  Two pitches and he had the batter out!  He got the first out in the sixth and then hit a player.   He pitched a strike to the next batter up and on the second pitch the batter hit a ground ball to the short stop who threw to second and  got the runner out, second threw to first and got the runner out, a great double play and they won the game!

Sunday was a special high school game and today was the Championship game!  The score was 0-0 after two innings and then the other team scored 2 in the top of the third inning.  In the bottom of the third we got 3 and held on to win the Championship 3-2!  They won 6 straight games in a row!  The team got a huge trophy but the individual players didn't get anything which was disappointing to us adults.  Kids didn't seem to care!

Trent is number 14!

Trent and his team!  Trent is in the back!

Trent holding the team trophy!

After the game 12 players and their families went to Sammies Woodfired Pizza.  The four of us (Jeri, Stach, Ted and I) also went there but elected to sit outside on the patio for lunch.  Jeri noticed one of the messy sundaes and got the idea to get them for the kids.  We got 4 of them and it was such fun watching them dig in!  It was a fun way to wrap up the tournament!

A week ago Saturday we talked to La Mesa RV and were told our RV was out of the paint booth.  We don't know whether it has to cure after it comes out or while it's still in but the last RV was here about a week after it got out of the paint booth.  After paint it goes to transportation and they actually have two weeks to deliver it to La Mesa RV.  So we are still waiting!  We so hoped it would arrive at the end of last week but obviously it has not.  The drivers normally take 3 days to get it here from Red Bay Alabama!

We are getting short on time and there is a lot to do.  They will have the RV for a few days to go make sure everything works, put the towing equipment on the tow car and RV,  go over everything with us, transfer our stuff we have been living with to the new RV and then they drive us to Yuma so we can take possession of the RV.  We then need to reload new RV with the 23 boxes that are in storage that came out of our fifth wheel.  We are due in Chama, New Mexico by August 26th for an RV rally and then we start the rally we are hosting!  That is a lot to do in a short period of time!  We hope it's here soon!

Baseball wins and kids with sundaes and smiles..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back at Pio Pico!

Last Thursday evening we had an enjoyable afternoon and evening with Sally Black.  We enjoyed sitting in her back yard watching the birds, playing with her dog and seeing all of her plantings.  We went to dinner at the Rainbow Oak Restaurant.  I had a delicious piece of prime rib that made two meals!  It was a fun evening!

Friday night we attended David and Carol Prime's daughter's dance recital.  Unfortunately at practice a couple of days prior, she did something to her knee and was in a brace an unable to dance.  She and David met us at the Valley Center High School auditorium.  The dance company has all ages of dancers and it was a great show.  It's fun to watch the little ones and also see the beautiful dance of the older dancers.  It was great to see Sophie even if she couldn't dance :(

On Saturday we attended a retirement party for Mayme Kline Beasley.  She went to high school with Ted and retired from a great job at IBM.  Sophie, Ted and I drove down for the party to JoMar (also a classmate) and Roger's home.  They live in bankers hill area and have a wonderful view of downtown San Diego and the airport, a great house for an afternoon party.  We had a potluck lunch and a good visit with classmates we had not seen for awhile.  Sophie had a great time with all the attention she received from everyone!

Later in the afternoon we stopped by Jeri and Stach's house and ended up going to dinner with them, their granddaughter Mallorie and grandson Trent.  We went to a Japanese restaurant and had a great dinner.  Sophie had a good romp in the grass in their backyard!  She was a tired girl all day Sunday from her Saturday outings!  Sunday evening Jeri and Stach were out for a drive and we met them in Escondido for dinner.

We got back down to Pio Pico in Jamul Monday.  We've mostly been running errands including going by La Mesa RV to see the status of our RV.  They issued the Purchase Order last Saturday which they do once the coach leaves the paint booth.  After curing they take it to transportation and we believe its probably on the way to San Diego from Alabama.  We are really excited and anxious for it to get here!

Today through Monday is the "Perfect Game Baseball Tournament".  Trent is on the roster with his team the Show.  Its quite an honor to be involved in this tournament and we are excited for Trent.  His team has two games today, two tomorrow and then it depends on how they do whether they play again or not.  There will be a lot of really good teams here from all over.

Waiting and waiting and waiting..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Is it here yet????

Nope, not yet!  Still saying August 10th...please, please, please get here soon!  We have lots to do and an open house party to have and a road trip to start!

Anyway, life goes on and we are keeping busy!  Last Friday Ted treated me to a day at Viejas with Jeri Gutowski while he babysat Sophie as a pre-birthday gift!  He and Sophie did fine and I had a good day at Viejas with Jeri.  I started off just putting in money, getting nothing in return!  Then I finally hit a machine and started some good luck coming my way.  After paying for my lunch, I came home with a few more dollars than I went with, always a good thing.  Jeri and I had a fun day and I got an early birthday gift from Jeri.  I had gotten a watch with changeable watchbands.  Jeri made two for me, one with turquoise beads and the other with colorful beads.  They are really cute and were a nice surprise!  I couldn't believe she made them!

Friday evening my friend Peggy Price made a birthday dinner for me, including cake!  We had pork chops with a pesto sauce, roasted potatoes and yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!  We even brought some cake home with us.  Everything was delicious and we had a good time with Peggy and her son Scott.

Ted had asked me where I would like to have my birthday dinner.  When I was trying to decide, an ad for Outback came on the tv advertising king crab legs!  Oh yeah, I was up for that!  So we met Jeri, her son Tony, his wife Gina, and their son Trent there.  Yes I ate the whole thing, 1 1/4 lbs of king crab legs and they were delicious!  We had a fun time and when the birthday ice-cream came, I passed it on to Trent whose birthday was the day before...almost twins!  Lol  Jeri had a few more presents for me and I loved them, especially a black Paris hoodie with lots of bling!  It is really pretty!  I had a great birthday!  And best of all I turned 62 and will receive my first S.S. check in September!

On Saturday Trent had a baseball game in San Clemente.  We didn't go because it would be too long for Sophie to be by herself and they don't allow dogs at that ball field.  They won both games so were to play again on Sunday.   On Sunday, Auntie Meg and her Golden Retriever, Rose, volunteered to babysit her so we could go to the ball game.   Unfortunately we lost the first game 2-0.  Trent pitched a great game but they just couldn't get their bats going.  Trent had actually hit the ball on his one up at bat and everyone thought he was safe at first but the umpire called him out.  After the game we all went to a local pizza party and had lunch.  The kids were having a ball playing the games in the pizza place and had totally forgotten their loss!

So now you are probably saying, what no pictures of Sophie yet!  So here are some pictures taken with poor Rose.  Sophie jumped on her and wanted to play with her all day!  Meg said she was a good little girl and when we got there she was laying on her pillow watching everything going on!  She was so tired that not only did she sleep all the way home, all afternoon, evening and night!  She was still mellow on Monday!  Meg said Rose was pretty tired too!  It's tiring trying to keep away from a little puppy all day long!  Meg said Rose finally took her paw and popped Sophie on the top of her head to settle her down.  It only worked for a little while!

Sophie following Rose (all day long)!

Rose asking Ted to save her from that puppy!

Wheeee let me at Rose!

Sophie sleeping all the way home!

 We got up here to Menifee on Monday and found it about 10 degrees hotter than Jamul.  It was over 100 in the afternoon.

Sophie went to the vet on Monday and got another set of shots.  The vet says she thinks Sophie will be about 25 lbs and she's doing great!  We hope she stays on the small size!  This time they took her temperature under her arm, she liked that a lot better!

Yesterday we took the car to Sunrise Ford.  We wanted them to check out the steering.  The steering makes a noise when you turn all the way to the left or right.  Also there is a lot of play in the steering, especially noticeable on concrete roads and its so light (especially compared to our truck) that it seems squirrely!  We brought Sophie with us knowing we would be gone quite awhile.  We were up at 5:30 and left by 6:30 a.m.  We got there around 7:30.  We were there until 11:30 and Sophie sat on the couch between us and people watched the whole time!  She was such a good girl!  Oh and the steering is fine, Donald said his is like that too, just the way its made.  They did some lubricating and the turning noise seems to be gone!  Here's Sophie keeping her eyes on everyone!

Last night we had dinner at Filippe's in Escondido with Ted's former classmate Rusty Coole.  We had a good Filippe's pizza and antipasto salad and got caught up with Rusty.  It's always fun to see him.

Today Sophie is getting a bath and we are going to visit our friend Sally Black.  She lives in Rainbow and we are going to have dinner at a little restaurant in town!

Birthdays, Social Security and Crab Legs..."Ain't Life Grand!"