We're home!

     Well folks, our trip down south has ended.  We're back in our little city in the North Okanagan Valley of British Columbia  exactly five months from the day we left home. 
     We, I should say I, have been sleeping in late into the morning.  The air, the light, everything is condusive to sleeping, but I am managing to stay up and not go back for a nap in the afternoon.  We got back Friday, March 26th after driving from Pasco, WA to Oliver, BC on Thursday.  I know the last blog said we were staying in Oroville, but it was early afternoon and we still had lots of daylight, so we got through the border in very quick time and drove to Oliver, where we found a new RV park right on Hwy 97, called Desert Gem RV park.  The rate was very reasonable, the traffic noise barely heard and the park not full so it was also very quiet.  Because it is new the washrooms and showers are very clean.
     We've been putzing here at home too.  The rig is slowly getting emptied of the detritus that follows a long trip away.  The inside of the rig is pretty empty of all foodstuffs and clothes, but we haven't touched the basement yet.  I've already done a load of laundry and now my laundry basket is full again.  Tomorrow is another putzing day so the laundry will probably get done then.  On Saturday we reinsured our vehicle and today Mike took it out of the garage and put the plates on it.  Now I'm just looking for more sunshine and warmer weather.  It is, after all, Spring.
    One last thing; we like to say thank you to all the people we met who were so good to us on our travels, giving us rv and travelling advise, rides to the market, putting us up in your beautiful homes, etc. I can't forget our neighbour, Arnie, for collecting our mail and generally keeping an eye on things here at home; and to our kids, who stayed in our home and looked after it when they needed a place to stay.  We hope to see you this summer if you live around us and next winter if you are going back down South.  Keep in touch eh?
The Holoidays back home.

Almost home!

     Today we made it to Pasco, Washington.  We left Apache Junction Sunday, March 14th and drove to Kingman the first night and from there to Vegas the second day.
       We stayed in a park called Main Street Station RV park.  It is operated by the Main Street Station Hotel and Casino right down town near Fremont Street.

We had a great time every evening, going over to Fremont Street to enjoy the music, casinos, and people watching.  Wednesday was our special reason for going there.  It was St. Patrick's Day.  We knew it would be a buzz.  There were all kinds of characters there.  We were caught hobnobbing with the real Irishmen.

  We stayed there a few days before moving out to Sam's Town RV park on the Boulder Hwy.  That was a nice rv park and it was across the road from a Wal-Mart store.   It was also the easiest way out of Las Vegas for us heading north to Ely, Nevada. 

We stayed here until Sunday morning, March 21st when we decided it was time for us to really head home.  The traffic was very light and the day sunny and just the right temperature for driving.  All of a sudden, Mikey pulls over to the side of the road.  I asked him why he was pulling over.  I soon found out... 

Yep, that's me behind the wheel, white knuckling it for about half an hour while I tried to keep the rig on the road.  I succeeded but was most anxious for Mikey to take over, especially when the first curve came into view. The road had no curbs to speak of; sort of like the roads in Mexico.  Oh my goodness, the roads in Mexico are no different than these roads after all!

     Near Ely we  came across the first snow near the highway and it was also very cold.  In the morning we looked out our windows to see what was previously a large mud puddle was a skating pond.  I jest, but it was frozen.

     From Ely we drove to Jackpot, Nevada on Monday, March 22nd. We did finally meet snow coming down in a squall just outside of Wells, NV.  I was all for staying there for the night but Mikey insisted on keeping going to Jackpot. 

We stayed at Cactus Pete's on the highway. There is a nice RV park there, but now it was very windy and cold.  There are two areas to park.  We started out in this area near the front of the hotel, but we found the showers were behind the hotel in the other lot.  The showers were clean and the room was nice and warm.  The robins are eating the berries off the tree beside our rig.

Today was a special day for two reasons.  It was Mikey's sister's 60th birthday and the 10th anniversary of his mom's passing.  Where does the time go?  Happy birthday Patty and Mom, we miss you.

     Last night we stopped on the Snake River near Huntington, Oregon.  The rv park was called "Oasis RV".  It was located off the freeway so we had a good night's sleep.  Hubby met some people from Princeton and Grand Forks who were on their way home from wintering further south.  Dog walking is very helpful in starting conversations with strangers with dogs.

    I'm finally caught up on my trip.  Tonight, Wednesday, March 24th, we are in Pasco, Washington staying at the KOA;  also known as the Sandy Point RV in the Big RV Book.  It was cool this morning but it turned out to be nice and warm.  Tomorrow we will be in Oroville, Washington.  We will stay overnight and cross the border at Osoyoos, BC on Friday.  We should be home in time for POETS, acronym for P...s on everything, tomorrow's Saturday.

ttfn,

Holoidays on holiday

Two whirlwind visits

Hi everyone,
     We're almost in Vegas.  Tomorrow we'll be driving a short while to Vegas.  It's only a hundred or so miles from where we are tonight-Kingman, AZ. 
      We had a great time in Florence, AZ.  I think I mentioned where we stayed. 

The Caliente Casa de Sol is a nice park but it is owner run and to stay there rvers need to know someone or find a place to rent from the many places for rent by owner.  We managed to find a nice spot for only $125 for the week we stayed. 
     For those who are asking, Florence is about 20 miles east of Casa Grande.  We'd never heard of it either but our niece and nephew built a second home there so we had to see it.  It is located in Merrill Ranch, a large housing tract in the desert between Coolidge and Florence.
Now, Florence is not the most beautiful place in the desert and they realized that having found out after they bought that Florence is home to state and federal penitenteries (there is no spell check on this blog site).  The good thing is that Merrill Ranch is a gated community (kind of).  The home is small and comfortable.  Myrna and Amanda took us to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner (located in Chandler).  No I did not have any cheescake.  I wish I had had my camera with me.  The chicken caesar salad I ordered could have fed the four of us.  Expect to take home a doggie bag if you ever eat at this place.
      She lent us her car and we went to Mesa.  A store clerk told me about the Mesa swap meet and I had to go.  His directions were very accurate, only "it's just over there" ended up having us drive about 15 miles east of where we were (Queen Creek).  We found the swap meet-it's a shopper's heaven-but we only spent an hour or so there.  Myrna needed her car back to pick up her friends who were flying in for Spring Break.
     We knew that hubby was coming in and hoped to see him too and see him we did. 
Tuesday about noon we get company.  Mike is out on the street with the camera and just happened to spot these four intrepid bikers.  They rode across the desert taking about two hours to get to our rv site.  It was sunny when they arrived but only a half hour later a rain storm hit.
It's amazing who a person can run into anywhere in the world now-a-days.  Our bikers met someone they knew before they got out of the park and were sheltered and driven home by folks from Kamloops.

     Wednesday, five of the folks went to the Canuck/Phoenix hockey game.  I stayed home with the dog because the car only held five.  Too bad the Canucks lost in a shoot out.  Thursday,  Mike and Myrna had a bbq that also had food for an army, but was it good, yumm!

     Thanks again folks for looking after us.  We love you!!!

Friday we were off again, this time to Apache Junction.  We found a great little park.  I highly recommend it.  We will probably make it a stopover in the fall on our way down to Mexico.  Friends of ours from Vernon just happened to be staying there for the winter and we were able to park our rig right beside theirs.

Ernie's rig is on the left in the picture below.  It wasn't cheap there but it was very neat and clean and the park is built in a circle, with the clubhouse, pool and common area in the middle.  Think of a wagon train in a circle and you will have an idea what it looks like.  Great little place, not large at all, nice wide lots.  Worth the $35.00 a day.  We kept our friends very busy, running here and there.

  We went to Glendale  on Friday to a RV show.  Gave us some good ideas if we ever decide to upgrade our rig.  We went back to Mesa on Friday to the swap meet and Saturday took a nice drive out to Tortilla Flat.  We had the dogs with us so we took them back to the park before going back to the Mammoth Goldmine tourist site for the afternoon.

We stopped for a drink in Tortilla Flats.  We moseyed up to the bar.  The only seat left was a saddle.  I got on okay but getting off was a different matter, lol. 

At the Mammoth site, the boys were hungry for red meat.  Why didn't I take a picture of the 14 oz. New York strips Mike and Ernie ordered?  Too gross! And they ate every bite.  It was a great afternoon.  Thanks folks!

We're 'back in the USA'

Howdy friends and family,
     Today we're resting in Caliente Casa de Sol, an adult retirement travel trailer and rv resort in Florence, AZ. 
     Just to catch up a little on our trip so far, we left San Carlos on Monday, March 1st and drove up to Santa Ana in Sonora state in Mexico.  We didn't have that long a drive and arrived around 12 noon so we settled into a very small, privately run campground.  Edgar and his American wife, Anna, greeted us very kindly and showed us where to park our rig.  By the evening there were two other families in with us.  One rig was from Colorado.  The other, a b class, was from BC.  We had a good night's sleep despite being right on the highway and were up and on the road by 7:30 am.  We got to Km 21 and were out of there very quickly.  The vehicle permit sticker was removed with efficiency and we were on our way again.  One question we had was:  what do we do with our temporary visitor permits?  No one seemed to know there so we just kept on going.  We were at the Nogales border crossing by 10 am (yes the truck crossing, lol) but the line up was long and we were in line for an hour before we reached the booth.  We were asked to pull over and we did without any hesitation.  We were boarded and searched by two very nice women officers and one fellow who came on board to say hello to Weaver.  We sat and chatted for a while; the one lady offered Weaver doggie treats which he accepted very politely.  She was a dog handler and I think Weaver knew she was carrying something in her pockets.  He sat beside her all the time she was sitting down.  The only thing they wanted to check was the dog food.  We had cleaned out all the fruits (courtesy of the fruit police earlier in our trip) and had cooked our chicken up in Santa Ana. 
     We headed out to Tucson where we stopped at San Xavier Insurance Company where we had purchased our Mexican vehicle insurance.  Suzan and her staff were very accommodating to us and she gave us her business cards and some Mexican maps.  Anyone want them, just get in touch with us.  We'll go there next year to get our insurance.
     We started using the Magellan we bought at the beginning of our trip.  Actually this one was the replacement we received when our original purchase broke down and Dave and Kelsi brought it to us from home.  We got a little lost because the Magellan lady (I'll call her Ruby) didn't know that one of the roads was closed because of flooding.  We were able to get back on the freeway very easily and onto the highway we wanted to get to Myrna's home in Merill Ranch.
     Myrna and Amanda (Mike's niece and gr. niece) were out shopping but showed up a few minutes after we got there.  We stayed to visit for a while and then Mave and Myrna went on a rv park hunt.  We found the Caliente and went back to the house where Mike was anxious to get going and parked before dark.
     We parked overnight in the Clubhouse parking lot and in the morning Mike went to see the office lady, Diane, about renting a spot.  Seems it turns out that all these lots are owned and if we want to stay here we have to usually know someone here who has a lot or unit for rent.  She gave us a list of owners wanting to rent/sell their lots/units and we found one.  The owner was willing to rent to us for $120. a week.  It's a nice lot.  Our rig fit on it ok.  The lot sizes only hold rigs up to 36 feet so we were within the size limit.  It's nice and warm out right now so we're cooling it inside and relaxing until we can get a hold of Myrna.
     More news later,
Mave n Mike n Weaver the Wonder dog aka Brutus