Viva Mexico

     Today is Sunday, December 27, 2009.  We are still in Tucson and stopped at an insurance company that opened just for us so that we could get our vehicle insurance. 
   We were on our way to Mexico by 10:30 am.  We stopped earlier at Wal-Mart to buy some things to tide us over until we got to a large shopping centre. 
     We lost Dave and Kelsi on the highway before we got to Nogales so we just kept on driving.  We drove through Nogales and when we were back on the highway we stopped and waited to see if they were behind us.  We got tired of waiting so we headed south again and made it to the 21 km documentation centre to find them waiting there for us.  They had taken Weaver with them in the car through the border.  It was so nice to drive with only the rattling of the moho to distract us.  We took Weaver with us again when we headed out after purchasing our visitor visas and the moho driving permit.  It is good for 10 years.  Don't think we'll have this moho that long, lol.
     We went through 2 toll stations. It cost us 32 and 97 pesos respectively.  We found a bank machine courtesy of HSBC and took out some pesos.  Weaver behaved himself so well that I was able to fall asleep for a while.
     The countryside is very remininscent of the Philippines except that the Philippines is much greener.  We finally reached the northern outskirts of Hermosillo around 5 pm and are now sitting in the Sonora RV park.  It is a very small park with only about 14 spots and as of our arrival time there were still about 5 spots available.
     Mike made some supper which consisted of canned ham, spirals and canned corn.  Our lettuce froze last night in the freezer section  of our old non working fridge.  It seems the freezer still  works when it has a mind to work.
     The TV works too.  We've been watching a movie?soap opera? and a concert by some guy singing with a big concert orchestra supporting him.
     It's going to be early to bed for this trio tonight.   Talk to you all soon.

Mave n Mike n Weaver

Happy New Year everyone!!

     Today is December 26,2009.  Mike had to ask me if yesterday was Christmas Day.  It actually was Xmas Day and it was bright and sunny and Dave, Mike and I went golfing.  The par 3 golf course at Palm Creek is a par 54.  Dave got 56, Mike got 69 and I got 70.  I was very happy with my score.  I birdied the 10th and 11th holes.  I think I might even have kept the scorecard.

     I've been pretty remiss in not working on my blog, mainly because I'm just too lazy.  We got here on the 19th of December and got to know the site quite well.  They have a ball diamond here that supports quite a few softball (slowpitch) teams.  No women teams unfortunately.  Not enough interest.  There is a concession there that makes the best hamburgers around and people come in from outside just to have their burgers.

      I told you about Van and Kathie.  From Monday to now has been very nice, but cooler weather than we've had since Oregon.  Last night it froze.  The grass in the dog park was frozen.  Maybe Weaver thought he was at home.

    Today we drove from Casa Grande to Tucson.  We stayed at Beaudry RV park.  It's right behind Beaudry RV sales and service.  It was a nice park but not much to do there.  They had a fitness room and a pool but we only stayed there overnight.  Dave and Kelsi went shopping for motorhomes so we went along for the ride.  We saw some nice mohos but we knew we wouldn't get enough out of ours so we didn't even make an offer.  We went back to the moho for take out pizza and went to bed early.

ttfn
Mave n Mike n Weave

Surprise in the Clubhouse

Hello readers,
     What a beautiful Sunday we had today.  I had planned to do laundry but with the lovely weather we decided to go golfing instead.  We received a 2 for 1 coupon from the Welcome Wagon couple, who by the way are from Fort Saskatchewan, AB, so we used it to go for 18 holes.  Friends in cold country - it was the perfect golfing day - not too warm, shorts and golf shirt weather, with a small breeze to dry the sweat, uh, I mean, the glow on my skin.
      The surprise in the clubhouse was not the price of the golfing, but the folks who were buying something.  I had dashed into the loo and ignored the lady in there, but when I went back into the Pro Shop the lady turned out to be Kathie Van Dresar-and-standing there talking to Mike was Ernie Van Dresar.  Folks it truly is a small world when folks you've known for over 30 years show up out of nowhere. Not exactly nowhere, but from Apache Junction where they are staying until April.  They had driven up here to visit some friends who are staying here and had stopped in to the Pro Shop to have a look around.  Needless to say they have just left to drive back to A. J.  We went out for dinner with K and E and Nelson and Jeannie.  It is the first time I have had Mexican food.  Not too bad, but the tastes of the food are hidden by the chilies.  Mind you that is my opinion only.  I guess I better learn to like it if I'm going to Mexico.

      Beethoven, their dog, and Weaver, our dog, spent their time alone in our moho chewing on good beef bones, and listening to Full tilt poker on tv, courtesy of Mike while we were out eating.
  Some pictures of the par 3 executive golf course here.

Tomorrow is a busy day.  I'm going to look at mohos for sale here in the storage area while Mike is playing slowpitch, then I have to go looking for the laundry room.  I really hate having to find the laundry rooms.  They are somewhere around here but I haven't found them yet.  Some of the laundry washers use quarters and some use a card system, like a creditcard.  I'll try and find the ones with the quarters because you have to pay for the card and then fill the card so it can get expensive.

Five more sleeps until Santa comes.  Hope you've all been nice.

Sitting pretty in Casa Grande, AZ

     Is it December 18th already?  Wow, I am behind in my blog.  I am the great procrastinator.  It's been so long since I wrote anything, half of what we've done I don't remember.  Let's see now...
Web access has been scratchy at best.  It's been hard to get on and all connections are unsecure so we don't use it that much because of the frustration.
      The weather of course has been wonderful.  Cold nights, yes Ella we know what you meant.  The days though are just perfect temperature wise.  The sun shines brightly.  It's the perfect weather I've been looking for.  Mike-are you listening? It doesn't even seem like Christmas time here.  Lots of homes and mohos have decorations on their buildings and vehicles and in their yards.  The palm trees are wrapped in bright lights and the radio stations stores and even the resort bathrooms have been playing Christmas carols since Thanksgiving (US).

     Today Mike asked me what I want for Christmas.  I told him this trip was my Christmas gift.  He's been wonderful to me.  He lets me sleep in, makes my supper, walks the dog at least once a day, encourages me to get in a good walk a couple of times a day and mostly doesn't nag too much about the state of the moho.

     We left Yuma on December 15th.  On December 13th Mike had his 58th birthday.  I'm afraid I never gave him anything but a birthday hug and a free dinner at the Cocopah Casino. We rented a car for the weekend last week.  That was a good idea and one that we want to do again.  It's Friday night and I forgot we did that. We drove around Yuma and area.  We visited the big Market and the little market.  There was all kinds of stuff to see and buy but I kept my hands in my pockets even though I wanted one of those neat loungers and a big patio mat.  The car we rented was a PT Cruiser.
     We visited Cocopah Casino and drove out to the Cocopah RV resort where we know some people who are staying there,although we didn't look them up.
     Yes, Ella we went to Los Algodonas.  What a hoot that was.  That little town on the Arizona, Mexico border was made up of dentists and more dentists, opticians and optometrists, pharmacies and gift booths selling jewellry and leather goods, linens and pottery and outdoor accessories.  Many Americans and Canadians go over to get prescription medicines, eye glasses, and dental work done.  I was disappointed to find that massage therapists were just as expensive as at home. 
     We met more Enderby residents in our resort.  Derek and Bertha Stevens and  Gary and Sharon Schmidt (?)  They live on Northern Street.

     Oh yes, we went to a parade last Friday nigth in downtown Yuma.  It was a Christmas light parade with floats all decorated with lights and marching bands with the students or instruments lit up with Christmas lights or those glow sticks that everyone buys for night time parades.  This truck was very well lit so I thought I'd post it.  There were over 70 floats and bands, including 4-H clubs with their sheep and dog therapy groups and dog agility groups.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  I'm glad we went. 
     On Tuesday, Dec. 15th we headed out to the Phoenix area of Arizona.  We made it to Casa Grande and very easily found the park that we are staying in now.  We are ensconced in the Palm Creek RV and golf resort.  As first time visitors we were told earlier by someone to ask for the special rate.  Buy one week and get one free.  Such a deal!  It really is a beautiful resort.  It has an 18 hole executive golf course.  No carts allowed.  There is league and pick up slow pitch, horseshoes, tennis, shuffleboard (outdoor), pickle ball, cards, lapidary, silversmith, sewing (quilting), painting, crafts, etc.  One lady said that if one was bored, it was one's own fault.  I agree. 
     Mike and I have learned to play Pickle ball, we've watched slowpitch (they call it softball), played cribbage, Mike played in a pickup slow pitch game today. He was being recruited by team members in the slowpitch league.  I went to a craft session where we all made bracelets with memory wire.  I took my own beads and shared them with the lady sitting next to me.  She bought a pair of my earrings.  My bracelet turned out really nice.  Mike walked to Wal-Mart to buy steak for supper while I went to a Mah Jongg game but there was only one table so I watched for a while then left and came back to the moho to take the dog for a walk. 
    I also visited the street of homes for sale here.  Some of them are really very nice and quite large.  The park models are more reasonably priced and they had a great special on land rent for 4 years at $1000. per year, but you have to pay County taxes on the homes.  Some of the homes for sale were being rented out and are selling fully furnished for $99,000. US.  Too bad the $ is not at par and too bad we are not looking for a place to live for 6 months of the year.  Not yet anyway.
   I think I may have caught up with the doings around here.  Brenden, Betty and Greg say hello.  Patty, Betty's son married Ray Russell's daughter in September.  Small world eh?

ttfn folks,
Mave n Mike

Desert Holiday Resort, Yuma, AZ

Hi everyone,
     After a very wet, windy day and evening playing shuffleboard with Neila and Bob, we woke up to a sunny, but cool, morning.  We broke camp and after saying our goodbyes we headed out to Yuma. I was surprised that it was only a two hour drive.  The Imperial Valley is not all desert after all. 

Once past Brawley the valley opens up to a lush growing area, hay, veggies are the main crops, with a smattering of smelly feed lots. What surprised me about the feed lot was the cattle.  Looked like holsteins to me but not milking holsteins. 

     The closer we got to Yuma, the closer we also got to the Mexican border and the black fence.  The dunes near Yuma were fascinating.  There are rental companies that rent vehicles for driving on the dunes and also will take people out on the dunes.

I'm still getting used to downloading photos. 

     We've come to a concensus about our favourite spot so far as determined by our three one week stays.  The Fountain of Youth near Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea is our favourite place.  We had fun there, met people who were very friendly, listened to a high school chamber orchestra play outstandingly.  Is that a word? I guess it could be.  The students all played either violin, viola, cello or bass violin.  They even played a piece while the teacher conductor sat in the front row and listened.  This orchestra has won awards in Toronto, New York, etc. Do we have a chamber orchestra in our school district?  If not, we should be starting our little kindies on violin lessons.  By high school we could have great musicians and music in our district.  I played bingo and won $40.00 in the blackout game.  Tonight I went to play bingo and walked in when they were already playing.  I couldn't figure it out until I spoke to my neighbour.  She said the games were half over.  Imagine my embarrassement when I realized we forgot to put the clocks ahead one hour when we arrived.  Didn't win anything though.  Back to FOY, we played shuffleboard, pool, I went to play MahJongg.  I didn't know how but with only three of us there the other two ladies helped me through the intricacies of the game at play.  It only left me wanting to know more.  Maybe in my lifetime I will meet someone who really can teach me the game.  There was a fashion show on Sunday, but nothing was my size and the clothes were not my style.  Monday it rained and the wind howled.  This is supposed to be the hot sunny desert.  What is going on? 

     Here I am standing beside our moho at FOY.  I'm wearing a sweater and my fleece pants.  The best thing about the FOY was their pools and hot tubs.  I'm getting to like being in the pool.  I can swim pretty good the front breast stroke and the front crawl.  That's probably the reason my neck is so sore. 

     Well it is getting late.  My men are asleep and it's time for me to hit the hay.  Going to be cool tonight so we have our trusty little fan heater on to keep us warm.

ttfn

Mave n Mike

Moving on to Yuma

Howdy folks,
We've decided to move on tomorrow.   When we get where we're going, we'll let you know more.

ttfn,
MavenMike

Fountain of Youth

On Tuesday, Dec. 1st we left the Sands RV and Golf Resort and after picking up groceries at Walmart-oh I hate to say that, but yes, Walmart- we headed south about 50 miles to The Fountain of Youth Spa near Niland, CA.
We were given a spot right beside Bob and Neila Lowe from Grindrod, BC.  Bob works for Rod's Towing in Enderby and he told us in August that he was coming here so we said we might stop here too.  We visited Eleanor Skyrme-Holmes here in 1999 when we came to Palm Springs.  We wanted to come back some day so the day came and here we are.
We were introduced to the pool area that afternoon and in the evening we went to the TNT (Tuesday Night Talent Show).  My goodness, there's some good talent here.  There were also a lot of people in the hall.  Today I wanted to go to the pool early so we went just before noon and Mike and I were soon playing water ball.  Now I haven't played volleyball since high school but this was really fun.  When we finished I didn't want to get out of the water.  Tonight I think I'm a little sunburned.  I came home about 3pm and had a nap.  Mike woke me up to join the happy hour next door and I mean next door; about three feet from our mat.  Happy hour turned into almost four hours.  By that time I was dressed in fleece pants, t-shirt, sweater and fleece jacket.  It turned cooler than last night very quickly.  Mike finally came in and made hot dogs for dinner and then I did the dishes and here I am in the computer room typing this.  They charge $4.00 a day for wi-fi but these computers are free so I am taking of advantage of the time here to do this blog.  We paid for a week and I am fine with that.  Tomorrow I'm going to come down here and volunteer my services with the computer class.  In the afternoon there is MahJong and I hope to go to that and learn how to play.  I play it on the computer but it is different when playing with someone else, I think.
We met Julie and Eugene from GoodnPlenty in Armstrong.  They are here for a week and then going to Hemet before going on to Phoenix.
We are not sure where we are going next.  It's one day at a time here, after all it is December.
Caio,
Mave n Mike and the Brat, Weaver