CHRISTMAS

Where Are We Today 

Pilot Knob RV Resort

Winterhaven California

Winter at "The Ridge"

CHRISTMAS

It is that time of year again, holiday, hustle, bustle, family, friend and gift giving, that's what time of year it is.

Come on Dad! Let's get the tree up.

One of our last Christmas's at the house. 

Did you have to wrap it so tight, mom.

Holiday time, for many this is a time off from school, or work, some for a short time some for longer. Then there are those of us who are retired, you may say we are always on holidays. I like the way my Dad would put it, I'm retired, I don't get any holidays!

The Suite ready for Christmas

Hustle and bustle time go together, that running around making sure you have that last gift, for that special someone. Or that last minute grocery shopping, getting all trimmings for Christmas dinner. Whether it is quaint little shops or huge shopping malls, everyone trying to do the same thing, people everywhere and don't forget about the cars on the streets.

Close and long time friends back home, Kathy and Derrick

Family and friends time, we hope that we have time for family and friends. The best would be in person, but that isn't always possible, either there are so many that you don't have time to see them all or you live too far away.

Who are my family and friends? For the purpose of identifying them, I'm going to put them in groups. 

Most of our family together before we left.

Family is up first, for obvious reasons. Parents, mine are both now gone. Step-parent, which I have one, Marilynne. Brothers and sisters, while no brothers, but two beautiful sisters, Carol and Elizabeth. I also have a step-sister, Caroline. Of course there are the husbands, Brian and Bruce,  and children (six in total) of those sisters.  My children, four beautiful daughters Yvonne, Charlotte, Krystal and Jessica, along with their husbands, Dennis, Cory and one fiancée, Matt. Along with two step-children, Bridgette and her partner Chris and Patrick and his wife, Chaela with a total of nine grand children.

My side, last year when my dad was still with us.

 Then the love of my life, my partner, my friend and my wife, the person who shares the good and the bad times, the one who keeps me grounded,  calm, humble, satisfied and loved, Pat, some of you know her as Patritia or Patsy.

Of course there are the in-laws, a list so long, Christmas would be over by the time I typed all their names.

Heading out to a Christmas party in 2014 

To name all the friends would take until next year, so let me put them in groups. The list goes like this: closest friends, far away friends, RC flying friends, CanAm RV friends, Face Book friends, RVing friends, long time friends who you don't see very often, blogger and friends through family and many of these are in more than one group. That should cover everybody.

So that time of year is Christmas, with many things going on for us all. Pat and I are away from our families and a lot our friends, but that doesn't mean they are forgotten and not missed. 
Living in our RV, which is decorated, including a Christmas Tree and travelling to warmer climates for the winter is a choice we make. This year, like the past two, we are in a camp ground in the desert of California, where we will celebrate with close, RV and camp ground friends. 

Our traveling buddies this year

Christmas dinner will be at 2 P.M. on Christmas day with turkey and all the trimmings.

Christmas in the desert, Pilot Knob

So while you celebrate with friends and family, sharing a meal, a sip of eggnog or quietly listening to Christmas Carols/songs, whether you are having a white Christmas or sitting on a sandy beach or here in the desert, take time to be thankful for all that we have and think of those who don't have family, friends, gifts and food on a table.

If you are celebrating this time of year, CHRISTMAS, remember why we celebrate it in the first place, no matter what your beliefs are. The gift of a baby, a saviour, the greatest gift of all. The gift of giving, of ourselves, not just for the day or season, but all year long. A tall order yes, but do the best we can.

In closing, from Pilot Knob RV Resort in Winterhaven California, Pat and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

As always, comments are welcome, take care and be safe.

HO, Ho, HO Merry Christmas

Weather Station

Where Are We Today

Lake Havasu City, Az. 

Weather Station

While in Bullhead City, we purchased a Wi-Fi Wind & Weather Station, by La Crosse Technology, from Sam's Club. There are four components to the system, weather/wind station, thermo-hygro sensor, wind sensor and a water leak sensor.

Temperature & Humidity Sensor

It can be used as a standalone system or connected via Wi-Fi through your router to your phone or laptop. When connected, it will display weather thru Accu- Weather Forecast.

Water Leak Sensor

I use it as a standalone system, with the water leak sensor under the kitchen sink, the thermo-hygro sensor (temp & humidity) inside the pin box for now when stopped, (may permanently attach it there) and the wind sensor on the roof of the trailer. When we are  stopped, it is bungee corded to the ladder rail, do not want to permanently fasten to the roof. I am considering a pole to attach it to and then the pole to the ladder.

Wind Sensor

The weather station will tell me the current temperature & humidity indoors and out door, also the high and low records for in and out doors, at what time and date they occurred for the year. Along with the current wind speed and the highest for the hour, past 24 hours, past week, past month and past year.

Wind and Weather Station

We are both  pleased with the system and are looking forward to seeing what the wind speeds are when we get back home at " The Ridge".

That pretty much wraps up this post from me. We are currently parked in our friends, Rose and George's, driveway in Lake Havasu City, until next Tuesday. Stay tune to chillinwithpatsy, for what we are up to.

Until the next time, take care and be safe and comment if you wish.

Breaker 19, You still have a Copy

Where Are We Today 

Info about Alamo Lake Dam

Carrying on from my last post, we arrived at Alamo Lake State Park and got settled in on lot B-17 with Rob and Pat on B18. We are only here for two nights, but will enjoy the time here.

Three buddies checking out the scenery

 On Friday the 16th, we took Rob and Pat up to the Alamo Lake Dam to take in the view. Leaving there, we headed  out to the Wayside Oasis. It is a trailer park out in the middle of nowhere, with a bar/restaurant and generators for power. It was late morning, so we sat at the bar and order some coffee, sat back, took in the ambiance and chatted with the waitress about the place.

Wayside Oasis

Inside the Cafe/Bar at the Wayside Oasis

We left the next day, to our next destination, Ridgeview RV Resort, in Bullhead City, Arizona. Instead of heading to Hwy 95, we back tracked to Hwy 71 to Hwy 93 to I-40 and finally Hwy 68 into Bullhead City.

Joshua Tree Forest

 The best part of this trek, was Hwy 93, again with ups and downs and gentle curves  , but you drive through the Joshua Tree Forest, absolutely amazing. One thing though, make sure you have a full tank of fuel, as there is only one place to get fuel on this 110 mile stretch of road.

Arriving at Ridgeview RV Resort

Arriving early afternoon, we checked in, got our choice of sites, eight and nine, backed in up against a hill with a view down the road, looking across the Colorado River into Laughlin Nevada, at all the casinos.

Our buddies leading the way

When Pat went to open up the bedroom slide, she got it part way out and the bottom cable broke, the first cable, the top one, broke when we were in Memphis. We have been trying to nurse it along until we got to a more populated area. The bottom one had been replaced a little over a year ago.

This is what they are suppose to look like

Here is a broken one

Rob came over and between the two of us we exposed where the pulleys are and managed to get the slide all the way out. After determining what we needed to try and attempt the repair ourselves, we headed for Home Depot in the morning and purchased some cable, clamps and eye bolts.

Working on the mechanism

After about five hours we had it back together, moving in and out. Not an easy job, the cables being next to the head of the bed right next to the closet.

New eye bolts and one new cable and clamps

one  side of the slide mechanism, two cables pull the slide in and two cables pull the slide out

 Also making sure the slide was square in the opening and the cables had enough tension on them.

the drive motor and transmission for chains

A big thank you to Rob for his insight, thoughts, ideas and time, as this is not a one person job.

On a lighter side, Rob and I, each purchased an inexpensive CB radio to communicate while driving from destination to destination. We took part of Tuesday to install them in our trucks.

CB installed

While that should bring you up to speed from my side of things, be sure to keep following Pat's blog,here here, to see what we're up to.

Until the next time, take care and be safe, comment if you like.   

My Version

Today We Are At

Ridgeview RV Park

Bullhead City Arizona

I can't keep calling my posts of late as "Catch Up" , so before I finish this one, a new title has to come to mind.

Pat &Rob taking in the view

 After Tijeras, New Mexico, we were onto Page Springs RV Park near Page Springs Arizona. Here we spent four nights down in a valley with no cell or internet service, no worries. Each day as we went on our daily excursions, we could get  service and catch up to the world, while at least with family back home. There were two places that were on the to do list, Sedona and Jerome. We went to Sedona to catch some views, finding a parking spot up Airport Road, we snapped pictures and walked down the trail to another hill where we could take some beautiful shots.

Beautiful Red Rock of Sedona

Hiking down the trail

 The second excursion was to the town of Jerome, a onetime ghost town, 1800 feet up the mountain from Cottonwood , on Hwy 89A, a two lane narrow road. Well worth the drive to take in this scenic and historical town.

Scenic view from Jerome

The four buddies in Jerome

I liked the name of this Inn, in Jerome

We made one more trip to Sedona to take some sunset pictures and then out to eat at Carls Jr, one of our favorites.

Sunset at the Sedona Airport

 We moved on with our next destination being Alamo Lake State Park. We have been here before, but always like coming back to this beautiful park, with the scenic view of the lake, dam and of course the burros.

Almost gone

To get there, we took Hwy 89A to Cottonwood, them Hwy 260 to I-17 to Hwy 169 to Hwy 60 into Prescott Az. From here we took Hwy 89 to 71 and then 60 to Alamo Lake Rd.

Just leaving Prescott

Clemson taking in the views

 The interesting part of this journey, was the trek on Hwy 89. We didn't know what this road would be like, straight, two or four lane, up and down or winding back and forth. I can now tell you that it wasn't straight or four lane, but what a drive. I was in my glory driving this road of twenty to thirty-five mph  twists, turns, ups and downs with top speeds of forty- five mph.

Hairpin turns

Twist and turns

There is another aspect to this drive that is just as important, that is, this is where we started to see the Arizona that we have come to love. You have to be able to see the magnificent beauty and ruggedness of the desert, it's vegetation  and colour. It was on this stretch of the journey that we saw our first "King of the Desert", the mighty saguaro cactus, stag horns, teddy bear, prickly pear and beaver tail to name a few. Then there is the colour, the mountains share their hues of brown, Terra cotta and beige to sand colours. The desert floor of black and grey rock and dirt with a vegetation of greens and browns. I don't know how to describe it any different and the pictures just don't relay what we see.

King of the Desert, the Mighty Saguaro

I hope that you get the chance to come to Arizona and see and fall in love with this beautiful state. A special shout out to " The Bayfield Bunch", Al, Kelly and Phebes, who used to have a home in this area and love it as much as we do, this is where we first met them.

I think this is a good place to end this post, to be sure there is more to come. So until the next time, take care and stay safe.

Beauty

Laptop Fixed

Where Are We Today 

Hidden Valley RV Park

Tijeras New Mexico

Before we left Rock Glen RV Park and crossed the border into the U.S., my laptop decided to quit working. The problem was the WiFi card acting up. To fix the problem, either install a new WiFi card or a dongle that plugs into a USB port, I went with the dongle.

USB Dongle WiFi Stick

 For days I have not been able to write anything on my blog, so here is a brief catch up. Our first day took us to Wapakoneta, Ohio to Arrow Lakes RV Park. Of course, I-75 in Michigan is as rough as can be, but crossing the state line into Ohio was like going from night to day.

Entrance to Corvette Museum

Our second day took us to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where we made a quick stop at a Camping World, before finding a Wal-Mart to stay at for the night. The next morning we visited the Corvette Museum before heading down the road to Nashville, Tennessee, where we stayed in the Nissan Stadium parking lot for one night, before we were told that we couldn't stay there any longer.

Love this colour, vehicle set for delivery to it's new owner

 We had hope to do some sightseeing here, but having to move on, we will find a park on the way home and do it then.

Moving on down the road, our next stop was the Graceland RV Park. Taking in a tour of Sun Studios, a dinner out on Beale Street and of course Graceland and Elvis's mansion.

Elvis's Mansion

The last time I was here, was the week before Elvis died, spent the entire night sitting just inside the gates with about 30 other fans with the hopes of seeing him. We didn't.

Graceland across the street

Front of Elvis's mansion

This was a great experience and time, would do it again.

Our next night was spent at the Cherokee Casino in Roland Ok., with free full hook ups. Then on to the Lucky Star Casino for two nights, again with free full hook ups. Of course, they hope you come in and play or at least eat in the restaurant.

Elvis's Grave Site

Carrying on to Amarillo Tx, where we stayed at the Amarillo Travel and Info Welcome center, at 9700 I-40, take exit 76, for the night. There is parking for RV's and a separate area for transports.

Finally to wrap up this post, we are at Hidden Valley RV Park at Tijeras NM. Here for three nights, taking a breather, getting my laptop fixed and a little sightseeing before we move on.

We have travelled on decent roadways with a bit of a rough spot on Hwy 71, but all in all, good roads.

Thanks for following along, comments are always welcome and until the next time, take care and be safe.