Christmas Post

Where Are We Today

Park Place RV Park

Quartzsite Arizona

Here we are only a couple of days from December 25^th, Christmas Day. A time of year where community streets and houses are a glow with lights of many colours. Inside of homes, even ours, have been decorated as well with lights, decorations and Christmas trees. Many have been decorated since the end of November, Pat likes to do ours as close to December 1^st as possible, and does a great job of making our home on wheels as festive as possible.

Christmas 2014 in our house

Part of me can and is a bit of a oh humbug / scrooge, yet I am a bleeding heart / die hard for Hallmark Christmas movies. Why, I don’t know, maybe it’s that ideal nearly perfect story outcome that gets me, when there is so much that isn’t right in the world. By the time Christmas Day gets here, the decorations seem like they have been up forever, I couldn’t live in a place that was decorated all year long.

Christmas 2014

As a young boy, growing up in Stratford Ontario, I remember snow covered streets and light posts decorated with the lighted bells. The city hall with it’s coloured lights and tall Christmas tree brilliantly lit. We didn’t have the decorations and tree up as early, but we had a real tree, that we would get from the tree lot. Dad would set it up and put the lights on it, then mom, my sisters and I would hang the decorations on it.

Again 2014, we have lost my dad since then but have grown and still growing in family members.

On Christmas eve we would drive around to friends and family delivering gifts. Christmas morning, we would have to all be up, washed, dressed, breakfast and dishes done before we could go to where ever in the house the tree was set up and dad was ready. He would sit at the base of the tree and systematically hand out our gifts.

Over the centuries and even the decades since I was born, the celebrating of Christmas has changed so much. The commercialization of giving that perfect gift for your loved ones, from cell phones, cars and jewelry to name a few, is out of control by big business make that almighty dollar. That’s the way of the world now and perhaps a necessity in the big picture. But it doesn’t and shouldn’t stop us from remembering the true meaning of Christmas, why we give gifts.

At this time of year around the world, Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, Gods gift to man kind and Hanukkah, when Jews remember when they reclaimed their temple after Syrians forced them to worship false gods. I consider myself a Christian, a child of God, celebrating that gift of so many centuries ago.

Some years back, the powers to be, decided that it wasn’t politically correct to say Merry Christmas, we might offend someone, we were supposed to say Happy Holidays, in our stores, restaurants, schools and out in public. Call me a rebel, I refuse to wish someone Happy Holidays, unless that they are really going on a holiday.

I started this post about three days ago, it is now Christmas Eve as I sit here in Arizona enjoying sunny blue skies and a warm 74F day. I have talked to some family and friends back home this afternoon where they are experiencing a strong winter storm. Thankfully they are all safe and warm.

Christmas today 2022

So, as I bring this to a close, to all our families, friends, my flying club friends, RV friends Facebook friends, blog followers and acquaintances, the VERY MERRY OF CHRISTMASES, HAPPY HANUKKUH and ALL THE BEST IN THE NEW YEAR.

Also a Very Happy Birthday to my daughter Krystal.

Until the next time, be safe, warm and take care. Thanks for stopping by.

This evergreen stands alone in the front field at "The Ridge"
Merry Christmas

 

 

Final Destination

Where Are We Today

Park Place RV Park

Quartzsite Arizona

By now you know we have arrived at our final destination for this winter, that is if you read patsyischillin every day. Yes, Quartzsite Arizona a small desert town full of campgrounds and BLM & LTVA areas surrounding it.

Here, I can continue to enjoy my hobby of flying RC aircraft at the Quartzsite Desert Flyers club field. I came down with three airplanes this year, two electric and one glow fuel. The glow fuel plane being a Piper Cub developed a knocking noise, not having tools and replacement parts readily, I sent it away last Friday to Horizon Hobby to be looked at. The engine, a Saito FA-82 four stroke is over 25 years old and has never had anything done to it. I received a call today letting me know it has been repaired and will be shipped Monday, I should have it by end of the week.

Piper Cub with Saito FA-82 engine

The first electric plane being a “Timber”, I have had about 7 years now, has been through the mill, several small mishaps and finally the engine twisted right out of the motor mount, that’s the end.

Timber

The second electric, the “Calmato” went in hard after a receiver malfunction, it is beyond repair and has followed the Timber into the big blue dumpster. I didn’t think to get pictures of either one of them.

Calmato

Having nothing to fly was not enjoying my hobby, fortunately, one of the club members had an airplane he was wanting to sell, negotiations were done and I now have another electric plane to fly.

Leader 480

One bit of other club related news, Wednesday was our monthly club meeting, elections were held for club officers for 2023, I have been elected club President.

There you have it for now, thanks for stopping by. Until the next time, take care.

                                                                         

Travel Day

Where Are We Today

Nov. 4th,2022

BLM Pilot Knob

Long Term Visitor Area

Winterhaven, California

 

Today was a travel day, from Bullhead City Arizona to Winterhaven California. The route taken, involved travelling on AZ. State Hwy 95 to Courtwright Rd/Cou. Rte. 1 to Oatman Hwy/ Cou. Rd.10 to Int.40E to Az. State Hwy 95 and finally Int.8 to Exit 164 and Sidewinder Rd which ends at this boondocking area. A distance of 232.4 mi.

Pilot Knob Mt. Winterhaven Ca.

Google maps would have taken us down thru California, I don’t like that route, so that is why the deviation on Courtright Rd. This route keeps us in Arizona, taking us thru Lake Havasu City, Parker, Quartzsite and Yuma.

Buttercup Sand Dunes, just west of Ogilby Rd
( For the Bayfield Bunch)

We will spend a week here before checking into a campground near Yuma. Thanks for stopping by, until the next time, take care .

Bullhead City to Pilot Knob BLM

Where Did the Jello Settle

Where Are We Today

Davis Camp Park

Bullhead City, Arizona

Here is where the Jello settled, Davis Camp Park, Bullhead City Arizona. We have seen this park many times, but have never camped here before. We have a membership park here but need to book 3 days in advance to get in, so we will spend two nights here then move a couple of miles to the membership park for 5 nights.

Sunrise behind us

This morning we left the Fire Rock Casino at 6:45 a.m., continuing our trek across I-40. Twenty-two miles down the road we crossed into Arizona, hitting about 100 miles of the roughest section of I-40 so far, after that we had sections of new pavement and fairly smooth older sections. It is great to see that all the states we have passed thru are now repairing I-40, this is the best I have seen it since we started coming down here in 2016.

Terra Cotta color Rocks

We were still at elevations over 7000 ft today, travelling across the upper plains, thru The Petrified Forest, Winslow, (Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona, by The Eagles), The Coconino Forest, the Kaibab Forest and the Navajo Indian Territory. Eventually we arrived in Kingman where we leave I-40 for State Hwy 68 to Bullhead. There is a significant drop in elevation and then a rise before the 12 mile drop into Bullhead, where trucks must reduce their speed to 50 mph, this is a 6% grade of twist and turns. Looking down into the valley, you can see where Bullhead lays along the Colorado River, which divides Arizona and Nevada. Across the river you can pick out the casinos on the other side in Laughlin, Nevada.

Plains and one of the downhill grades

Thanks for stopping by, your comments are always welcome. I may take a break for a couple of days, we’ll see, until the next time, take care. P.S. don't forget to check out Patsy is Chillin,> HERE

Plains

The Jello Jiggled Again

Where Are We Today

Fire Rock Casino

Church Rock/Gallup New Mexico

Yes, the Jello has Jiggled again, our intended destination for today was supposed to be Elephant Butte New Mexico. Travelling across I-40 towards Albuquerque, a brain wave hit, why don’t we keep going west and we will come the southern route on the way home.

Reflection in my mirror of the Sun rising behind us.

We left Amarillo this morning in the dark at 7:10 a.m., not something that I usually do, but we were thru the city well before any heavy traffic. The road has been fairly smooth all the way, the odd rough spot but there has been many sections of new pavement and work being done in both Texas and New Mexico. We had a slowdown of about 10 minutes in Albuquerque because of an accident, we had some rain with hale for a couple of minutes and a slowdown of about 15 minutes for construction. 

All in all, a pretty good day of 426.8 miles of travelling, reaching elevations over 7000 ft and cool temperatures in the low 40F range. Of course, those two factors play havoc with the fuel mileage, but better travel mileage tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by, check in again to see where we end up tomorrow. You can check out a more detailed account of the day by reading Patsy is Chillin .HERE    Until the next time, take care.

Our route today.

 

I-40 All Day

Where Are We Today 

Amarillo Travel and Information Center

Amarillo Texas

Todays travel started at 7:11 a.m. after fueling up at a Murphy U.S.A. station right in the Walmart parking lot. We were quickly back on U.S. I-40 for our destination at this Travel and Information Center here in Amarillo Texas.

 We have stayed here a few times on our way down or coming back home. It has spaces for RV’S, cars and the tractor trailers for overnight parking.

I-40 is in pretty good shape on the section we travelled today with only two spots of construction taking place. The first one was when we came into Oklahoma City where there were reduced lanes and speed, we sailed thru quite easily with no slow downs or stoppages. The second was about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City, where two lanes went down to one for bridge repairs. Traffic backed up for a couple of miles at a slow pace to the occasional brief stop. After about 20 minutes we were thru and continuing on our way, climbing steadily from the 400 ft level to 3,670-ft level here in Amarillo. Adding to the climb were the steady strong winds, which neither helped fuel mileage, over the 437.5 miles travelled today.

Thanks for stopping by, for a more detailed coverage of our day, check in on “Chillin With Patsy”.  HERE     If you are an anonymous commenter, sign your first name and last initial, so I know who you are. Until the next time take care. 

5th day of travel from Van Buren Arkansas to Amarillo Texas

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=12F4FJfj11wyUlcA2ciBfOqW4sfvR59E&usp=sharing

Two Days

Where Are We Today

Van Buren Arkansas

Oct.24,2022 we left Wapakoneta, Ohio around 8:20 a.m. heading south on I-75 heading for Dayton, where we hung a right onto I-70 west. Again I-75 was fairly smooth driving, with a few rough spots, some new pavement and of course construction. In Ohio, I-70 is good driving, but entering Indiana for at least the first 30 miles is the worst I have seen, I am still trying to get my insides back in place. After that we did a smooth swing around Indianapolis using the 465 By-Pass.

Our goal today was a Walmart in Effingham Illinois, but the Jello jiggled, around 12 noon we entered the central time zone which meant we would arrive way too early to stop for the day, so we pressed on. At this time, we decided to change our route some and headed south on State Hwy 57  to the town of Sikeston Missouri, to the Walmart there. This was our longest day yet on the road, 9 hours.  A little shopping at Walmart, dinner at Mongolian restaurant across the street and an early night.

Third Day Points E-F

Next morning, Oct.25^th, 2022, (in case anyone is counting, it's 2 months to Christmas) we were up early and on the road by 7:30 a.m. I usually don’t get fuel at “Love’s”, but the price was decent and we would need it soon. Again, our route was different then I would have taken, heading west on State Hwy 60 then onto State Hwy 67, State Hwy 64 and finally I-40 to Van Buren, Arkansas and a Walmart parking lot, 367.9 miles later.

Fourth Day Points F-G

Today’s roads were a combination of 4 and 2 lane roads in good shape. The first 2 hours we drove thru rain, some heavy at times to the point that we could have pulled over if there were wide enough shoulders, but not on this 2-lane highway. We slowed down and pushed thru those times. Eventually the rain stopped, the sun came out and we enjoyed small towns and country side we have not seen before.

Sorry for the blur. We were going thru a town called Dexter when this Dexter Trailer parts truck passed us. The axles on many trailers including ours are Dexter axles.

 We are settled in for the night, blogs written, our route and destination for tomorrow planned.

Thanks for following along, until the time, take care and if you are also on the road, safe travels.

Where Are We Today

Wapakoneta, Ohio

Today was our second day on the road since leaving the Ridge. Departing from CanAm RV Center just after 8:00 a.m., we crossed the border in short order and proceeded west on I-69. 

Approaching Customs

The road still has some rough sections but improvements are being made. We picked up I-75 south just the other side of Flint for a couple of miles, then onto State Hwy 23 south. 

Construction along the way

This route took us down around Ann Arbor to By-Pass 475 round Toledo and back onto I-75. Here we carried onto Wapakoneta Ohio, where we are camped for the night.

I realize that this route is a little out of the way, but it has kept us away from Detroit and all the construction going on there.

Wapakoneta exit

Today we travelled 327.5 mi, burning 31.7 gal. of fuel and averaging 10.3 mpg. I filled the truck here in Wapakoneta @ U.S. $ 5.559/ gal for 33.018 gal.

Check back for our continued route. Until the next time, take care.

Our route so far

Fall, Where has the Summer Gone

Where Are We Today

“The Ridge”

Priceville Ontario

 

Here we are, the Middle of October and our last week at the Ridge for this year. Patsy from “patsyischillin” has kept you all update with our daily adventure of life and the fall colours that we are experiencing this year. All but a few last-minute items have been put away for the winter before our departure this coming weekend.

My working schedule has come to an end with many reno’s for happy customers completed.

Fuselage

 This has been a great summer hobby related, with many weekends out at my local flying field, The Saugeen Radio Control Flyers, and starting a new building project. In an earlier post I had mentioned, the building of a Corsair, sorry to say that I lost interest in that project and have passed it on to someone else.

My new project is a Aeronca Sedan, which will be finished as a stand off scale model of “The City of Yuma” an Aeronca Sedan that did a 47 day nonstop endurance flight back in 1949. You can Google it. The aircraft sits high on a pedestal in the city hall of Yuma Arizona.

Here you can see it on it's pedestal, you can also get on the second floor and stand right in front of prop.

Built this box to house the fuel tank and make the front end stronger for mounting the engine, not sure if I am liking this, may make changes.

Cockpit area

Back in the day of Model kit manufacturers, there was a company called Pica that produced a 1/5 stand off scale kit of the Aeronca Sedan. They are no longer in business, but I was able to get a set of the plans from this kit. I then had the plans blown up to ¼ scale and found “Katana Aircraft Models” to cut me a short kit. (A short kit is the formers and ribs, none of the stick or hardware that you would have got from a manufactures kit.)

Tail section, large cut out is for one of the servos

When you buy a manufactured kit, you get all the parts including the stick and hardware along with the plans and a instruction book with step by step instructions.

Scratch building is the way I’m building this model, no instructions. I have never scratch built a model before so I will admit that I will be stumbling through some of the build. Having built several kit models before will definitely help me work through the process. Over the summer, I have made considerable progress on the fuselage, as shown in these pictures. Now that we will be heading to Arizona in a week, the building will have to wait until next spring.

Thanks for stopping by, until the next time, take care. Comments are always welcome.

Time Going By

Where Are We Today

'The Ridge'

Here we are, almost the end of July, half the summer gone! Followers are kept up to date of our daily life by “Patsy IS Chillin”, and we are happy that you tune in each day.

Speaking of the summer being half gone, you will notice on my side bar that I have added a count down timer as to when we head south, that time will be here before we know it. We are looking forward to our time in Arizona this year, especially in Quartzsite. Planning as started, although the definite route there and back isn’t carved in stone, but some thought about it is taking place.

This bathroom was one of our jobs, new tub, toilet, vanity, tile the tub walls and new tile floor.

Gazebo at my brother-in-laws, not finished yet.

Work is going well this year, different in some ways, not quite as busy and more inside jobs than outside. Today for example, I didn’t work, the steel for the roof of the gazebo we are building for my brother-in-law didn’t come in.

So having the day off as allowed me to get the grass cut. Some of the property is wet and can’t be cut, although I push to cut some of those areas. Today was one of those days and it can get me into some mucky situations. There is an area at the bottom of the back field that edges the pond, which I try and cut as much as possible. Do I need to, no not really, but it could be a nice area and give a better view of the pond?

Chain hooked up and starting to pull.

So today was one of those days that I was pushing my luck and lost, I got the mower stuck. Now I can be resource full at times and this was one of those times. A walk back to the shed to get a length of chain, rope and the come along was needed. It didn’t take long and I had it out knowing that I can’t cut back so far. Oh one more thing, Pat was at work and doesn’t know I got stuck, so do me a favor and don’t tell her, I’ll never hear the end of it, you see it isn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last.

Very wet and mucky.
Remember, don't tell Pat

Thanks for stopping by, hope you stop by again.

Coming to An End

 

Where Are We Today

Park Place RV Park

Quartzsite Arizona

This is the last day in this park as we leave here tomorrow morning for a destination down the road. Not far down the road, we will spend a few days at Roadrunner BLM area before heading to a park in Yuma for five days. April 10^th will see us hitch up and start the journey home.

A few of the guys , taken about 5 days ago.

Quartzsite Flyers Field

This morning I made one last trip to the flying field to say goodbye to the flyers still here. Many have left in the last couple of weeks, as the temperature rises, the winds pick up and insurance runs out. There are a couple of guys that live here year-round, but they even say come mid-April, it is too hot to fly.

This has certainly been a different winter for us not having our Canadian friends here, we have missed them, but have also enjoyed meeting and spending time with our American friends. Also, we have met new friends both in this park and flying friends at the field, who we look forward to seeing next year.

That's us, bottom right.

This park is open year round. Thinning out as us snowbirds head for home.

With that being said, we have made changes to how and where we will spend our time down here. Our favorite park, Pilot Knob has been sold to Thousand Trails Park systems, with many changes coming. We have decided to get rid of our one park membership as we don’t use it enough. We will keep the second one, as it is less costly on a yearly basis. It will also get us into most of the parks the first one did.

We have had a great winter here in Arizona and very happy that we were able to get away this year. Looking ahead to our trip home and what the spring and summer will bring.

Until the next time, take care and keep checking in on Pat’s blog to see what we have been up to.

 

Quartzsite Desert Flyers Air Show

 Where Are We Today

Park Place RV Resort

Quartzsite Arizona

Yes, it’s been a while since I made an appearance on my blog, but since I know that you all follow Pat at Here, there is not a lot for me to tell you. However, today I thought I would say a few words about the “Air Show” that our RC club had a couple of weeks ago.

Quartzsite Desert Flyers  Field

The RC club is the Quartzsite Desert Flyers whose field is located in part of the town park at the north east corner of the town. One of the founding members, Jim Colwell, who the field is named after, approached the town and ask for land to have a field at, as there are a number of winter visitors that fly RC.  The town set aside an area on the outside edge of the park with parking, a shelter and 600-foot paved runway for the club. It should also be noted that there is another section in the park set up for RC cars. 

The weekend of Feb. 4^th, 5^th and 6^th were the dates set for this event, the Friday night for night flying, the Saturday for the fun fly and the Sunday for a swap meet. All events were attended by our club and surrounding clubs.

Opening Ceremony

Registration 

The Friday night flying was well attended by spectators but we could have used more flyers, something to work on for next year. The Saturday was well attended with spectators also, approximately 200 people came to watch, with 20 registered pilots and multiple airplanes. Sundays swap meet was well attended with many items for sale. The locale VFW, supplied food to spectators and flyers.

Looking to the left of center field.

Looking to the right of center field

The yellow one is a jet turbine aircraft, the only one at the show.

One of our female members.

All in all, it was a great weekend, yours truly ended up being the announcer and also made a purchase at the swap meet. Looking forward to next winters Quartzsite Desert Flyers Air Show.

Swap Meet wares

Lots of items for sale .

My Swap Meet Purchase "Calmato"

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check in. Until the next time, take care and enjoy life.

Good Night