RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN

Dec 28, 2017

We came to Parker, AZ for a month.  It is on the CA/AZ border. The state line is in the middle of the river. Staying at Emerald Cove, one of our favorite parks.  When we were in Lake Havasu geocaching  a few years ago  we met some people at the same cache we were at  who also were staying at the same park as us. Small world, we have been caching together ever since.

Last Friday,  the heavens opened up and it rained all night. Someone had a rain gauge and it was filed at the 6'' mark. Then Sat it rained and thundered all day. We couldn't even get out of our RV without stepping in water. It was amazing to see, it had never rained that hard here.

I had brought these rubber boots with me just in case.  Good thing I had them! My granddaughter gave me these a few years ago when they  got too small  for her.  She now can't believe that she would ever have worn something like this. Back then, she was 9, now is is almost 13 and into fashion a lot more.

Happy hour before the rains came

This is our view of the Colorado river from our campsite

Emerald Cove has the longest beach (1 mile) on the Colorado River

How different a few days make. Today we have the door open, it is 71 degrees,
 BEAUTIFUL


Taking advantage of the hot tub with our friends from Canada

GOODBYE MENIFEE

DEC 19, 2016

Today we are leaving Menifee, CA for Parker, AZ. We have been here 3 weeks and have had a good time, relaxing, geocaching and wine tasting. 

Weather has been a tad cold for here, but nice for us, low 60's, high 50's. It rained the other day all night and all the next day. This was the most rain they had had since last January. There was lots of flooding and mudslides because of all the wildfires this year. Still it didn't make a dent in the drought. It has gone on for over  5 years and  it would have to rain here for years to overcome the effects of the drought.

We brought a small propane fire pit. Darin, our son, bought it for us may years ago. Had so many people comment on it,  they all wanted one.  Most had never seen one like it.  Darin also gave us a large one last year, but we forgot to change it out in the RV

When we first started traveling, every time I would see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, I would take a picture. I have so many that I rarely do that now, but I this sunrise was striking to me

I have no idea what bird this is, but I noticed it in the tree right next to us. No one knew what it was, but it certainly has a very long neck. Any idea's???

When we started  our snowbird travels, Menifee was where we spent our  first Christmas and New Year's.  We went to a New Years Eve Champagne Dinner at the Menifee Country Club. This picture was taken Dec 31, 2009.   I have a lot more gray hair now! Brought back many memories.

UNUSUAL SIGHTINGS

DEC 13, 2016

Saw a few things around the park that I had never seen before. 

First was a car in an RV space. The car is hooked up to electricity. I saw an older lady get out and walk around one time. Sometimes at night, I see lights in the car, sometimes it's completely dark. Notice the cord hanging out the window.

Next, an RV with a slide out deck. We were walking by on our way to dinner when we first saw her. She needed some help getting it put together, so we stopped.  The bottom slides out from underneath. She is a single lady, maybe in her 50's. It is a big 5th wheel.  She also showed us her Medical Service Iguana for her asthma. She said she is allergic to cats and dogs, hence the Iguana.  

When we were out geocaching, we went by a house that looked liked the front yard had snow. Saw the guy out front putting out more decorations. He said it was batting, looked so real. The pic doesn't do it justice . We haven't been back at night, but the man told us it was hooked up to a radio station to play music.  There are several houses on the street all hooked up together.  Bet it is a sight to see and hear.

This was in the driveway of the same house, Grandpa and Grandma sitting in the truck

There are lots of Christmas decorations in the park, but this RV is my favorite.  Lots of little lights all over.  It is a projector sitting on the table.

When we were wine tasting in Temecula, I saw a Christmas ornament that I just had to have.  Also bought a set of measuring spoons,  very cute but doubt I would ever use them.

Got the glass of wine covered, but have given up on the flat abs

WALKING AROUND THE PARK

Dec 7, 2016

Everyday we try to take a walk or bike ride around the park for a little exercise. Saw a few usual RV's.

 On on previous post, I showed a picture of a tiny house, like on HGTV.  Walking around, we saw a couple of RV's that were even smaller. Can't imagine living in them.

Also saw a slide out within a slide out. Never seen that before. Very curious to what's inside. To the right is a dryer vent, but can't imagine having the washer/dryer next to the bed.

CHRISTMAS IN THE MONSTER

Dec 7, 2016

I needed to address Christmas cards, so to get me in the spirit, I decorated the Monster. We call it the Monster because when we bought it we thought it was huge, hence the name. Now it is quite common to see 4 slide outs and 35' or even longer.  I also turned on Alexa for Christmas music.

I don't really want to take up much storage space for things that we only use for about a month, so there is an end table that we don't use. Everything has to fit in there (except the Christmas tree) or we don't take it. Everything is unbreakable,  no glass or ceramic.

The snowman on the right softy changes to 3 different colors

SNAKE!!!!!

Dec 4, 2016

Last Thursday we decided to go wine tasting in Temecula, about 15 miles south. Along the way,  we did some geocaching. Our first one took us to a pile of rocks. I was looking under rocks and found the container. Just as I was going to grab it, I heard the RATTLE, Yikes. About a foot away, I saw a RATTLESNAKE.  Denny said he has never seen me jump so fast. It was about as big around as my thumb and between a foot and 2 feet long. Hard to tell when it is coiled. Denny said it was a baby, but certainly big enough to scare me to death. Took awhile for my heart to stop the pitter patter. There was no way I was going to reach down to sign the log to show I found it.  When in the desert you are always suppose to be on the lookout for snakes. As long as I have been caching, this is my first snake sighting, let alone a rattlesnake. Hope never to see another one. I have a reacher tool that I sometimes use in the desert, but, I forgot it.  Thought I left it at home, but Denny found it in the storage area. Will certainly use from now on.

Went to a few wineries. One had a glass floor, when you looked down, you saw the area they make the wine with all the barrels and equipment. This sign was on the floor. Good advice for ladies that wear dresses. 

As some of you know, champagne is my favorite drink. Saw this pillow at another winery. Considered buying it just for fun  until we saw the price, $119.  Even the guy that was pouring our tastings couldn't believe it. He had to look at it, then to the computer to check, back to look at pillow and back to computer before he believed it.  He told all the other people behind the counter and no one could believe it was that expensive. I know things can be high at wineries, but the was a bit excessive. Thought it had to be gold, but it was just  canvas with regular stitching.

WILDERNESS LAKES, MENIFEE, CA

Nov, 30, 2016

This is our first destination park of our travels. We have been coming here for many years, but we got the best site we have ever had. There are canals that go thru the park, so several sites back up to the water.  Three of the four times we have been here have been on the canal, but never as nice as this one.  Our site is on a corner, so no one is beside us. Also we got to back up further than usual, so we don't even see our neighbors. Every window has a view of the water.  The previous people had just left, our lucky day. We walk around to find a good site, then I wait there while he gets the RV. Several people stopped to ask if we were taking it, felt very lucky. All of these pictures were taken from our chairs outside . They stock the canals with birds, ducks and fish. Can't resist taking pictures of all the different birds and ducks. Sorry

The bikes  on the left are ours on the back of the RV

Denny in our chairs, relaxing after our first bike ride.

As I said before, we went on our first bike ride.  I have seen a lot of the Tiny Shows on HGTV, but never saw one in person, but saw it on our bike ride. Would love to see the inside

ON THE WAY AGAIN..........

Nov, 23, 2016

So excited, finally started on our trip. Weather doesn't really look good getting to CA, but hoping for the best.

So far so good. A little rain, but not much. Went thru the Siskiyous Mountains  with no problems. It was going to snow at Weed, CA, our usual stop after the Summit of the Siskiyous, so went on to Redding, CA. 

It has been in the news about finding a lady on the side of the road on I-5 that had been kidnapped and beaten from Redding, CA. We were driving on that exact road the day after she was found.  WOW!  Glad we didn't pass by when police  were still there.

We stopped at the Orange Grove RV park at Bakersfield, CA. It is the last park before Tehacaphi Pass. There are 3 orange trees at every spot. When in bloom, they let you pick as many as you want. Never been here this time of year to be able to pick them. I picked a bag full. They were so sweet and juicy, I have never had them this fresh.

It was going to snow the next day, so we decided to stay 2 days at Bakersfield. We saw other RV's pull in earlier than usual because I think they had planned on going over the Siskiyous  and saw the forecast of snow.

The next day we went over the Siskiyous, no problem except for fog, visibility only quarter mile. Cajon, our last pass was no problem.  Nice to be over all the passes.

ON TO WYOMING

July 9, 2016

On an earlier post, I mentioned that to get Denny to agree to this trip, I added a spot that I knew he wanted to go to. This was the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  We had been there in 1975 and Denny always wanted to go back.  We spent 4 days there.  My shock came when I wanted to reserve a campground. When we go places, we like to get as close as possible plus we like our amenities, meaning full hookups of power, water and electric.  There was only one in Jackson, but it was $92 a night. WOW!!! have never paid that much before, but as they say in real estate, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.  There were places further away, but didn't want to spend our time and diesel getting there. When I was  first quoted that, I thought they were thinking  I wanted the adjacent hotel, but no, it was for the campground. For that price, we expected something very nice, but, again, no.  It was okay, but far from what we expected.
 When we left and got to our next campground in Idaho, we met some people that also had stayed there.  We all had a laugh about how bad it was for $92.  The campground in Idaho was 100% nicer and MUCH cheaper. 

I was actually a little disappointed in the park.  You know sometimes when you remember things, they are nicer than they really are?  Well, that was the case here. You can't really get close to the mountains, you just drive around in a big valley looking at them from a distance. Not nearly as spectacular as other national Parks. It  does have one unique fact. It is the only mountain range that actually grows. Every year it grows an inch.  I, of course, geocached along the way.

Beautiful Jenny Lake

This is a resort on Colter Bay, didn't expect to find this

This was a Virtual geocache. You take a picture of a certain place and log it to get credit. This is the only kind allowed in National Parks.  There are no containers that  you sign a log.



After visiting the park, we went to Teton Village, a ski area. Nice, but doesn't have the hills like our area. Very expensive place to ski. It is a big destination area with hotels, condos, restaurants and shopping

After 4 days, we started for home. Made a HUGE mistake. We bought a RV GPS this year. It is geared for RVs and tells you if a road isn't good for  it.  I looked on the map and decided it would be nice to take a different way out. The road looked good in the beginning. Our GPS told us it wasn't rated for RVs, but it looked good to us. MISTAKE !!!!!!!!   As soon as we  decided to go for it. it became steep and very curvy. Hills are rated for steepness, grade 6 is about the steepest you want to go on in an RV. This was rated as a 10,  no place  for us to turn around. Denny said it was the most stressful, scariest road that he has ever driven on. At the top, we had to stop because our transmission was overheated.

We definitely learned from now on to trust our RV GPS!!!


We were gone a month. Never have traveled in the summer,  it was a nice change since we didn't travel last winter