More Desert Plants

Every time Patches and I would go out for a walk (which could be two to three times a day) I would discover another wildflower or plant that I hadn't seen before.  And don't even get me started on all the different rocks out there--I could have created a beautiful rock garden with all the specimens out there.

I'm clueless to the names of these flowers and plants except for the desert verbena so don't look to me for identification of what you see here today.  And as always, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

The tiny purple blossom on the plant below was about an eighth of an inch in diameter.

Desert verbena.

Another teeny-tiny plant.

To show you the scale of the teeny-tiny plant.

I don't know if the grapey-looking things here are the blossoms or the seeds, but they were hollow and weightless like tiny balloons.

Nature's perfect symmetry.

I was never able to snap a good picture of the quail here; they are too flighty especially with a cat around.

Sometimes

Sometimes after life hands you lemons it also gives you rainbows.

Strangers in the Night

About six weeks ago I received a payment through PayPal for three child's necklaces.  I had posted some children's necklaces on my RV Vagabonds/Crystal Cachet web site about a year ago as an attempt to generate interest in  my jewelry that I made as a hobby, but got no response so I thought I had removed the web page from my site.

Lo and behold, here is this order for necklaces that I didn't have made up and no longer had the envelopes for shipping, etc.  I returned the payment with a note that the website should have been removed and that I no longer made jewelry as a business.

The young lady replied that it was a shame, as the necklaces she ordered were meant for the flower girls for a friend's wedding and they would have been perfect for the occasion.

WELL!  Talk about hitting the guilt button!  I emailed the young lady and told her for flower girls I would make the necklaces and so I did.  Today I received another email from the young woman, but this email included a picture of the bride and groom with the two flower girls wearing my necklaces.  How sweet was that?  And that was the reason I originally wanted to sell my jewelry for young girls; because all little girls enjoy a little bit of bling.

It made my day.  Today I make jewelry only for my own pleasure or as gifts for friends.  But it's nice to know that it made someone else's day too.

Meeting Blogging Friends

This afternoon we met Boris and Natasha. This young (younger than us!) couple began their fulltiming lifestyle about nine months ago after studying blogs and RVing websites for months and since they were in our general area today they stopped by for a visit.  Boris tickled me by mentioning that they build in an excuse for leaving when they meet fellow bloggers in case they don't "gell", which was a shame because we really, really enjoyed talking with them today and would have liked to have spent a few more hours with them just b-s-ing about the RVing lifestyle, places they've been and places they want to go.  And after all, who wouldn't want to spend a lot of time with a stranger (me) who has blogged about going into a spiral of depression after her mother's death?  What a way to spend an afternoon, right?  Denny and I did keep them past their time allotment as it was, so that Natasha missed going to her quilt shop as planned, but they still had to hit the local Wally-World so after a couple of hours we said our good-byes-for-now.  We were sad to see them go, but know that if they are ever again within a few miles of us we'll make a point of catching up with them and spending a few hours together because we owe them a Happy Hour--RV Vagabond style (which means lots of food and alcohol).

So Happy Trails, you two.  You know how to find us--in a non-stalkery way, of course.

Too Cold, Too Wet, Too Windy

Once again my best laid plans ganged agley (you figure it out).

Our destination yesterday was Jerome, Arizona, official Ghost Town, located high in the hills.  When we left Cottonwood the sun was shining, there was a breeze and the temperature was in the high 50s.  By the time we negotiated the twists and turns of Hwy. 89A it was raining, the wind was blowing and the temperature was 45 degrees.  Denny had left without a windbreaker, the wind was strong enough at times to turn an umbrella inside out and the state park/museum which we planned to explore was closed with no explanation.  Dang!  We thought about wandering around the shops of town, but stepping outside the truck into that weather changed our minds quickly.

I changed the camera setting to sepia for today's picture, taken from inside the truck as we approached Jerome.  The streets are steep, winding and narrow, which is not a lot of fun in a ton and a half dually truck but the town is well worth visiting on a nice day.  The shops and homes cling precariously to the hillsides, although some of the buildings have slid down over the years.  The town itself is more of an artists' enclave these days and many buildings are closed or abandoned but it's still a funky little place to wander around and people watch.  

On a warm sunny day, that is. 

Springtime in the Desert

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Denny and I were out geocaching in the campground, wandering all over the hills.  I took my camera along and took pictures of an amazing variety of wildflowers growing on the rocky terrain.  We're about two weeks too early for the cactus to bloom, which is a shame because they put out tissue paper-delicate flowers that are incredibly beautiful.


I tried to identify these flowers by looking online, but was only  partially successful.  So I'm just enjoying them for what they are, lovely spots of color in the desert.

This flower's petals change to white as it ages and they can be blown apart like the fluff on a dandelion puff.

Desert hyacinth

This flower has the appearance of a small snapdragon.

While blues and yellows are the predominate colors in the desert, this small white chicory-like flower peeked out from under some bushes.

Desert cliff rose.

Globe mallow.

Desert paintbrush.

The vivid glow of desert paintbrush.

I call this one ghost flowers because of the way the fuzzy buds seem to create a sheer, ghost-like blossom along with the brilliant purple and yellow flowers.

The breeze was blowing too strongly for me to get a good picture of these snapdragon-like flowers but I was intrigued by the multiple colors of the blossoms.

This is a close up of the same type of flower as the picture above, taken the next day in a different location.  It doesn't have the same variety of colors on the blooms, possibly because they were more shaded and were newer blossoms.


There are a few more, but that's enough for today.  Who said the desert is dry and barren?

Hanging Over

After checking the weather forecast for the Gallup, New Mexico area next week and discovering that it was supposed to thunderstorm and have very cold night time temperatures, Denny and I decided to stick around here in Cottonwood for a few more days.

Today we wandered around some of the nature trails, looking for the Thousand Trails private geocaches on the grounds here.  They are not the standard caches, but finding them gives you a discount at the country store for food or merchandise and we're all about discounts!  There are two separate sets of caches, but I just loaded all nineteen into our GPS at once and we looked for the ones that were closest to our rig to start off.  Wandering up and down the hills we were treated to unusual wild flowers and lovely vistas, although the day was overcast so all the colors were muted.  Of course, with the sun hiding behind the clouds, we also didn't get as hot as we would have on a sunny day, so that worked out for us because there were times we were huffing and puffing climbing up the hillsides here.  We did seven geocaches before we became too tuckered out to continue so we figure we (or I) will get the rest over the next week.  

There are plenty of places to see around the Cottonwood area; there's the Tuzigoot National Monument, Montezuma Castle, Montezuma's Well, the cities of Jerome and Sedona (no blog posts on those, just pictures), the historic part of Cottonwood, a small casino, Fort Verde State Park and just a whole lot of beautiful scenery all around.

But for now, we're just enjoying the weather, crossing our fingers that nothing else goes wrong with the Beast and watching out for those rattlesnakes!

A Short Course: Pine Shadows Golf Course

I had those new golf clubs to try out, so yesterday Denny and I drove through Cottonwood to the Pine Shadows Golf Course.  It's a short nine hole course that ends up being very challenging simply due to the fact that the fairways are extremely narrow and the hillsides are full of rattlesnakes.  My first advice about this course is to bring a lot of old golf balls because you certainly won't be looking for any errant shots in the rough due to the vegetation and snakes.

The course is a par 33 course winding up and down through Mescal Gulch.  You'll see rabbits, quail, Green Herons and other critters (fortunately we didn't see any rattlesnakes) and enjoy fabulous views of the surrounding mountains and distant Clarksville, Jerome and Cottonwood.  The course itself is in wonderful condition with lush fairways and tee boxs and greens that are in excellent shape.  The cost to play 18 holes with a cart is currently $27 before 1PM and $22 after 1PM.  

We considered this a practice day since Denny had a very sore ankle and I had a new set up and swing to work on but we had a lot of fun teaming up with Bobbie and Leslie, a mother/daughter twosome on the last few holes.  Pine Shadows is a fun little course at a reasonable price.  A bit further out of town you can play Verde Santa Fe Golf Club in Cornville, AZ, an 18 hole course that's a little more expensive, running a little over $62 in the morning and $52 in the afternoon, or close to those prices.  That's just a tad too stiff for the two of us but it appears to be a beautiful course by the pictures online.

Breaking Our Bed

No, this isn't about a wild night.  This is about another example of poor shoddy workmanship on the part of Heartland RV.

Monday afternoon we were thrilled pulling into our current campground in Cottonwood, AZ; 300 acres in the desert with sweeping vistas of distant mesas and red rock surrounded us.  It took Denny a couple of tries to back up since he had to do it from the right (it's easier to back in from the left because you can see the side of your rig, your navigator and how the tail end is turning from your side mirror) but we finally got backed in and unhitched.  It's at that point that I go inside to open out the slideouts and start putting our possessions back into place.


I noticed that the bedroom slide moved out slowly, but assumed it was because we were running on battery power and that the battery was down a bit.  But the two living room slides went out normally so I went into the bedroom to see what might be wrong and that's when my heart fell into my stomach.  Our bed normally sits at a right angle to the front of the rig; it was now sitting at a 45 degree angle.  I tried moving the slide back in a bit, but had to stop because the bed didn't straighten out and was going to hit the dresser.  Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.


Naturally, this is the last thing I want to tell Denny since he was still upset about not getting the rig into the campsite on his first try (it's a man thing).  So I waited until he got the two satellite dishes set up and operating (that went easily, yay!)  We had to wrassle (that's an Ohio word) the king sized mattress off the bed platform and out of the bedroom (imagine trying to get a 72 inch mattress off the bed with a 62 inch clearance), and then remove the hinged plywood panel that covers the platform, which is the RVers version of a box spring.  That's when we saw that an electrical junction box fastened to the floor had been poorly secured so that when it worked itself loose, the bed base snagged on it while moving out with the slide which caused the bed to rip itself loose from its moorings.  


The solution was to hammer out and break off the bent screws (which of course, the installers had stripped), run to Home Depot for more long screws, back to reposition the incredibly heavy bed base and drill new holes for the new screws, cut out the carpet and pad underneath the junction box and re-secure the box to the floor, screw the bed frame back into the floor, gingerly test the slide to make sure the bed passed safely over the junction box, remove and reposition the plywood platform and the hydraulic mattress lifts and wrassle that darned mattress back onto the bed.  We once again tested the slide and watched with relief to see the bed move freely and in the proper direction, but discovered that the slideout wall now does not open all the way. Crap!  By then the Heartland factory and our dealer's office back in Indiana was closed, so I had to wait until yesterday morning to call and try to troubleshoot over the phone.  The general consensus is that the stop bar got messed up and that will be a fairly simple matter to adjust once we get to Albuquerque where there is an authorized Heartland dealer.  


So thank goodness for good cell phone reception, a fix up on our part that went well, and finding a dealer close to our next campground and Denny's sister so we can take the cat and visit while they are dealing with whatever repairs we will end up needing. 


But we're not getting much of anything else done while we're here!

Photos from Gold Canyon

Our week didn't go as planned due to my multiple visits to the endodontist, errand runs and Denny's unexplainable sprained/sore ankle.  But we were able to enjoy an evening at the Arizona Opry with friends Rene and Barb before Barb had to fly to Oklahoma so at least we had that.

Elvis and mini-Elvis were in the building that night.  That's guitarist Bill Wells and the grandson of the business owners, the Staerkels.  The little one is four years old.

 There's my mountain to the rear of the Beast.  The gravel campsites aren't attractive, but the scenery around them is!

 While I'm not a particular fan of lizards, this guy has the most gorgeous scales when in the sun; metallic green, gold, bronze and silver.  He's about seven inches long and likes to sun himself on the wall behind our trailer.

We've had a golden fronted woodpecker on our hummingbird feeder here and in Ehrenberg.  I have to chase them off before their weight pulls the feeder off the window.

This little guy was actually at our last campground, but wasn't included in any posts, so here he is.



The moon shot is also from Ehrenberg.   I feel lucky to get a halfway decent picture when I'm taking pictures while Patches is tugging on the leash.  The full moon really called for a tripod and some careful focusing but this is what I got.  The sunsets here in Gold Canyon have been disappointing this week since the sky has been clear and cloud-free.  Maybe next time around.

Next week's campground will be a new one for us, although we've been in the Cottonwood area a couple of times already.  I hope to get out to take a lot more pictures there and maybe even do a little geocaching.

Playing Apache Creek Golf Course

Apache Creek Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona is one of those courses that demand you hit a straight ball or else you'll end up with a ball sitting on hardpan.  While the fairways and greens are grass, the rough is indeed rough being pure desert sand and gravel.  Throw in a few rattlesnakes and you indeed are playing desert golf.  But look at that view of the Superstition Mountains off the first tee!

For men, playing from the black tees means the course is 6785 yards long.  Denny and the twosome we played with played the blue tees for a distance of 6363 yards, with a USGA rating/slope of 69.4/119.  Women get quite a break, with a yardage of 5315 and a USGA rating/slope of 64.4/111.  It is an eighteen hole, par 71 golf course with no houses sitting on the course which is always a bonus in a winter tourist setting. A couple of the holes have water, including the oh-so-fun island green at hole 6.

The one nice thing about that hard desert surface is that the ball will run and run and run.  I even managed a birdie on a par 3, so it's a very playable and enjoyable course.  Just remember, hit it straight and watch for slithery things in the gullies.

The Weirdness Continues

The root canal procedure went well for me and the pain that the endodontist warned of has not occurred.  Instead, Denny ended up with an ankle that feels sprained, despite not twisting it, not stepping into a hole, not banging the ankle bone into a chair, nothing.  Just him waking up and putting weight on the the foot and feeling a great deal of pain.  Could it be he's avoiding hiking up Silly Mountain with me?  Nah!  Of course, that will go on our list of things to do the next time we're in town because he's certainly not up to it now.

Instead, today we did what we do best; we spent money.  I neglected Denny's birthday last year since it fell soon after my mother's death, so this year I'm treating him to a new set of golf clubs.  Actually, I'm treating both of us to a set, so we now have birthdays and Christmas taken care of for the year.  Denny insisted I take a 1/2 hour golf lesson when I couldn't hit the new clubs well when trying to figure out which clubs I liked best and in just a couple of minutes the golf pro showed me what I was doing wrong in my wrist hinge (I had chicken arms--don't ask).  So I'm excited about the new clubs.  Denny has to have his clubs fitted since he's so tall, so his will be shipped to his sister's house in Albuquerque and be waiting for us when we arrive there in three weeks.  Now if Connie's honey-do list isn't too long once we arrive, we may even get to try them out while we're there!

Oh, and in case anyone wondered, we bought the Callaway Diablo Edge irons and woods.  Appropriate, no?

A Response

Rich (Hi Rich! Welcome aboard!) commented on my last post that 1) he wishes I would update more often 2) where are we now? and 3) that we must be rich because we change RVs like shoes.  So in response...

I haven't been posting a lot because we haven't been doing a lot, most recently due to a bad toothache but overall because I've been suffering a bit (okay, quite a bit) of depression over the past year due to my mother's death and having to deal with her estate.  I haven't wanted to go exploring or doing much of anything, honestly.  But I'm working on pulling myself out of that.  Stay tuned.

Currently we're in AJ (Apache Junction, Arizona) which is one of my favorite places simply because of the Superstition Mountains.  They are rugged, distinctive and change appearance with the play of sunlight, the weather, the clouds.  We have friends here and simply like the area and the proximity to shopping, restaurants, theaters, etc.

Are we rich?  Far from it.  We live on Denny's pension which is by no means extravagant.  A fellow RVer/blogger once said that it takes however much money you have to full time.  Which basically means, if you have little money, then you will buy a used truck/car/RV, have it outfitted with a generator and/or solar panels, boondock on BLM land or Walmart parking lots or state parks or wherever you can find economical camping.  Buying a pre-owned campground membership works to keep expenses down too, if you find a deal with low/decent annual fees. You learn that you cook at home instead of eating out a lot, you search for the free places to see or visit attractions in the off season/off times for better rates, you borrow movies from the library or the $1 Red Box and watch them at home instead of going to the movie theater and hitting the concession stand.  In other words, you find a way to live within your means.  That doesn't necessarily mean that you are missing out on anything, it simply means that you learn the little tricks to making your money last longer than the month does.  Fortunately there are tons of RVers who write wonderful blogs, many of whom put their finances or a reasonable estimate out there for others to see and learn from.  And the switching RVs like shoes, yeah okay.  We have owned RVs since 1993. Have we owned more than many people? Yes.  Have other RVers owned more RVs than we have?  Absolutely.  But it doesn't matter what we do or what anyone else does.  You make a list of what you consider vital expenses; campground fees, meals out, playing golf/going to the theater/bowling/increasing your wine collection--whatever, insurance for your rig and tow/towed vehicle, groceries, maintenance for your vehicles, remembering that you no longer have yard maintenance and property taxes and house maintenance.  You research, research, research, you go camping and you find fulltimers and you talk to them and listen and you research some more.  And maybe one day you'll decide that maybe you'll never have enough money to do this.  And that's when you'll have to decide whether or not you want to live the lifestyle badly enough to find a way to make it work or you'll just walk away from the dream.

It's not irreversible once you do it--but you may just find it's the best thing you ever did.

Good luck, Rich.  Happy Trails.  Hope to see you out there someday.  We'll be the ones in the new rig.  Because we're going to be out here a while longer.

Moving On

This week I've been drifting as aimlessly as a piece of flotsam on the river flowing behind us.  I've enjoyed lazing in the sun with the cat, spent most of the day yesterday trying to figure out our route from the Albuquerque, NM area to Seattle, WA this summer and just doing nothing in general.

The problem with the "doing nothing in general" is that it's becoming a habit.  Ennui has set in with a vengeance since I've written the final checks closing out my mother's estate this past week.  It finally occurred to me that I've lost that rudder of responsibility and I don't know what to do with myself, therefore I've been doing nothing.  Not good.

Denny and I have spent hours watching the river this week; there's very little else to do in this part of the world since we've explored the area during past visits.  But now it's time for a little shake-up; a chapter of my life has finished and I need to move on and see what else I can get into.  It will help that Denny and I will be exploring new territory this summer, eventually checking off three more states on our list of areas yet unvisited.  

I'm looking forward to finding Linda again.

Laying Low

I had all sorts of things planned for the week and only one thing happened; my tooth exploded.  Well, not really, but I developed a bad infection around one of my crowns and until that gets cleared up we won't be able to figure out what's going on. The dentist warned me I may be facing a root canal or a bone graft.  Gee, and the good news would be?  Sigh.

I did stuff myself with pain meds for a round of golf with friends Dan and Dee but that apparently was pushing it because for the last two days I've been in a lot of pain and my face looks like something out of the Phantom of the Opera.  Therefore, I've spent my time laying around with a cold washcloth on my face instead of sightseeing.  As Denny says, it will all be here the next time we come through. Yeah, but I wanted to see it THIS time around, dang it! 

Don and Vicki arrive tomorrow; we'll have happy hour with them and Dan and Dee and then the RV Vagabonds will be heading back to Arizona for a couple of weeks.  Places to go, people to see, things to do, don'cha know?  Or not, depending on this darned tooth.

It's been a year since she died.  I miss her still.

An Afternoon at Ivey Ranch GC

What can I say?  I'm a sucker for waterfalls and flowers and on the fourth hole of the Ivey Ranch Golf Course in Thousand Palms, California there is a waterfall surrounded by flowers in the middle of the fairway.  Yay!

Denny and I played on Sunday afternoon when the rates to play 18 holes was $25 per person with a cart.  Ivey Ranch is a nine-hole golf course set in the middle of a secured and gated 55+ community.  The fairways are narrow due to the homes lining both sides, but the fairways are lush, the greens are well-manicured bent grass and the course itself is well maintained.  You are not allowed to walk the course due to the amount of play in the winter, but it's a pleasant and nicely challenging course with a couple of ponds to hit over and quite a few sand traps sprinkled around the greens (I know because I found several of them.)  People who play here will allow you to play through, although we played 18 holes in 4 hours despite waiting on every hole, so the golfers here aren't slouchers.

For those who track such things, the slope rating is 102, the course rating is 33.2, the course itself is 2,656 yards long from the blue (farthest) tees.  There is a pro shop with the friendliest staff I've ever dealt with, a restaurant and bar, a putting green, chipping area and driving range.

And a waterfall!  If I had the money and the willingness to settle down, I think I could live here.

Desert Oasis

Bored with walking the asphalt paved campground streets, I talked Denny into wandering around the Coachella Valley Preserve, home of the California Fan Palm tree and the Fringe-toed lizard.  The 20,000 acres of the preserve were purchased in 1986 to ensure the survival of the fringe-toed lizard which is native to the area.  The lizard is so named because of the fringe-like appearance of its feet, which allow it to sort of swim through the sand dunes when it needs to hide from predators and the heat.  One of the preserves original owners had envisioned the area as a tourist attraction as far back as the early 1900s and the home he from the trunks of the native fan palm still stands as the visitor center.

As you approach the visitor center, this sign informs you that you are near the San Andreas Fault. I have to admit, I always envisioned the San Andreas fault as a big crevasse or chasm in the earth but here in the preserve the way it presents itself is through the water that pushes up through the fault area, creating this area of desert oasises (boy does that spelling look awkward).   And these folks were busily painting their own versions of the palm fans surrounding the visitor center.

The California fan palm tree, indigenous to the area, grows to a height of 45 feet.  The old palm fronds hang down when they when they die, forming a skirt around the trunk which shelters all sorts of creatures here, including owls.  The dark things you see hanging down in the picture are the fruit of the palm.

After you leave the visitor center you wander a wooden boardwalk above the marshy area created by the water coming up through the ground along the San Andreas fault. This oasis is called the Thousand Palm oasis and is cool and shady compared to the surrounding desert.

According to the information at the visitors' center, one might see brilliantly colored hooded orioles here, but all I saw was this dove perched on a dead palm tree.  The area is also home to kestrels, hawks, killdeer, cactus wrens, Gambrel quail and the ever present sparrow.

We didn't see a fringe-toed lizard, but did spot a couple of western zebra-tailed lizards.  Fortunately, neither did we see any rattlesnakes which are common.  I would have liked to have seen the bobcat that hangs around, but I imagine dawn or dusk would be the better time for animal sightings.

There are several trails in the preserve, but we took the shortest one leading to the McCallum Grove and Oasis.  Within the preserve plants and bushes are marked with descriptive signs and the trails are clearly marked.  At the time of our visit, the trail map brochures were in the process of being reprinted so none were available but the volunteer at the visitors' center told us they were planning on uploading them online in the future.

It was hot and dry on our walk and Denny had enough before we made it to Mc Callum's Grove, so I continued on while he sat in the shade of a small grove of fan palms.  The pond at Mc Callum's Grove has pupfish in it, which are not native to the area but have been placed there in an effort to save the species.  It's a quiet, peaceful place.  And certainly much more enjoyable than tromping around the campground.

Too Much Sunshine

What kind of person complains about too much sunshine?  Me, I guess.

It's been beautiful here in Palm Desert and that's the problem.  Denny and I have a few projects in mind and it's very difficult to make ourselves haul out tools and supplies when the sunshine and warm, orange-blossom scented breezes lure us to simply sit outside and enjoy the nothingness of basking in the sunlight.  Even Patches has been content to stay within the confines of our site lazing in the shade, but that's more because of the gophers moving about just underneath the surface of the soil rather than any desire to sit quietly in one area.

So what we need is a day of gentle rain so that I can get off my duff and add a couple of coats of polyurethane to the dining room table and end table, sew some elastic bands to my picnic table and bench covers to make them fit a bit more snugly and Denny can work on creating a new satellite dish support pole to attach to our fifth wheel's ladder to perch the satellite dish up high (making it once less thing to trip over and one less tripod to haul out).

Sadly, because the forecast is for sunshine and daytime temperatures of 88 degrees today, we'll have to spend the morning browsing the goodies at the farmers' market in Palm Springs instead of working.  Dang.

Tired

It's been a week of ups and downs here at the tin can on wheels.  For two days high winds tried to blow us off our campsite, I had a bit of a stomach bug one day, and Denny and I were at a fever pitch of frustration exacerbated by Ford Motor Company's inability/unwillingness to assist us in finding a part for our tire.  But through all this the sun was shining and at varying times shone brightly enough to allow the wearing of shorts and short sleeved shirts before the winds brought the temperatures down to an uncomfortable level.  For the first time in months, I have a little color (read tan) on my face.  And I found a new bathing suit that I could live with.  Bonus!

I won't go through the details of our battle with Ford, but let me simply say; phone calls to two Ford dealers, the Ford headquarters, three trips to two different auto parts stores, two trips to a tire dealer and a couple of e-mails to a wheel rim business back in my hometown in Ohio were necessary before we got *crossing fingers* a slow leak in our right front tire fixed.  This was a classic circle jerk of monumental proportions and if it would so happen that we would ever need a new valve stem we still don't know what part we'd need.  But I give kudos to the Cathedral City Carquest auto parts store and Big O Tire for going out of their way to help us.

Of course the main high point of our stay here has been having Don and Vicki 20 miles down the road.  We've eaten out, eaten in, had Happy Hours, played Phase One, the men have golfed while Vicki and I had a girl's day and today we'll wander the flea market.  The two of them are heading east to Arizona tomorrow and it will be October before we see them again (yay, Myrtle Beach!).  Bittersweet.

What it comes down to is there was much more good than bad, which works for us.  Just a normal week for the RV Vagabonds.

Almost Left Behind

When I got back to the trailer from water aerobics yesterday, Denny was standing outside talking to our friend Brian.  As I stood there listening to the conversation, I noticed a blonde cocker spaniel wandering around freely across the street.  I had seen the dog before but couldn't remember what its owner looked like but it was pretty obvious the owner didn't know or care where the dog was.  Three people stopped by to see if the dog was ours (I think because we were just standing outside and the other folks assumed we had our dog out with us) so no one had a clue who the owner was.  A man was preparing his motorhome to leave a couple of spots up the street, finally pulling out and stopping to hitch up his tow dolly to the rear of the motorhome.  I figured the dog couldn't belong to him, because who would leave without checking to see if his dog was there?  In the meantime, we realized the dog was blind, after he bumped into our truck tire and wandered off.

After a couple of minutes the man stood up from hitching up his tow dolly, looked down the street, saw the dog and called to it.  The cocker spaniel was indeed his dog and he had no idea that the dog was out wandering around.  Chances are real good if the dog had gone behind someone's RV or car the fellow would have gotten into his motorhome and driven off none the wiser.  The dog had no collar or tags on to tell us who owned him nor giving a phone number to reach an owner.  Scary.

Our most recent issue of the Escapees (a camping organization) magazine has a notice in it of a lost cat.  A lady had been boondocking in Quartzite (with 100,000 other RVers) and the cat apparently slipped out the door behind her at some point.  Despite much searching, the cat was gone and the lady figured someone had picked it up as a friendly stray and left with it.  The reason for the lady's ad was not just to get the cat back, but to know that it had found a good home rather than ending up as a meal for a coyote.

It only takes a moment for our pets to slip out--we've learned that ourselves.  Patches alway wears her collar and name tag with our phone number on it.  Someday while we're at a veterinary office I may even think to have her microchipped.  Accidents happen, but I surely wonder about a pet owner who has a blind, aging cocker spaniel with no tags who doesn't take the time to assure himself that his dog is secured in his motorhome before he starts to take off for his next destination.  How sad for the dog.....

Quiet Time

It's been fairly quiet here on the home front this week.  We're still in California, still enjoying quite a bit of sunshine although the temperatures aren't as warm as we'd like, but hey!  Friends Brian and Judy are here and Don and Vicki are at a campground 20 miles away, so we're getting in some visiting and some happy hours while we're all in the same area.  I've been keeping up with my water aerobics in the hot springs fed swimming pool and Patches has been getting several walks a day to burn off some of her energy.  On our first trip here we did some sightseeing and the aerial tram, so for the moment we're just hangin' with friends.  And that's just ducky with us.

The other thing I've been doing is trying to learn my new Samsung Solstice cell phone.  Vicki calls it a poor man's iPhone and I guess it's close.  There is a learning curve, to be sure.  Sooner or later I hope to get comfortable with it, or at least be able to use a fraction of the features.  I'm still working my way into the 21st century.

Below is the view from our trailer.  Not bad, huh?