BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

Jan 3, 2018

We drove up to Cottonwood, AZ on Dec 30th.  It is in the mountains,  about 100 miles north of Phoenix. The elevation is 4000'. A few days ago we woke up to 22 degrees. Yikes, a tad cold. Thankfully the daytime temps were in the low 60's. The next few days, we had a heat wave of 28 and 29 degrees in the morning. Today, 40.   We have been coming here for several years and  have always been told to let our water drip at night so the pipes don't freeze.  On Dec 31, 2014, we woke up and it was snowing. Snowed all day to a total of 4-5".  Much sooner than in Washington, but not this year. Our house  in Washington got 6" of snow the day before Christmas. We would rather have cold than snow. Of course, this is wonderful weather compared to everywhere else in the States. Glad we are here. 

Dec 31, 2014

On our way here, we saw something that we had never seen before. At rest stops, there are separate areas for trucks/RVs and for cars. For the first time, we saw a disabled parking spot for truckers.  Our truck and RV are to the left. Seems like we are always seeing new things that we had never heard of.

When we are in this park, I feel very close to my parents. They traveled in an RV for 20 years. This is one of the parks they spent alot for time at. Over the years, we have been in alot of the same parks, but this was one of their favorites. The other one  they spent alot of time in is in Palm Springs, also one of our favorite parks.

In a previous post, I talked about recycling in parks. Some do it alot, others not at all. This park recycles everything, but does something I have never heard of. You bag it separately, but put it in the garbage. The recyclers separate it. Usually you put everything in a separate recycling bin. Seems like alot more work for the recyclers. 

DESERT GOLFING

Dec 31, 2017

Across from our park is a desert golf course. I have never golfed, but can't imagine hitting in the ball in the dirt and sand.  There is another golf course not far from here that is a regular course with all green grass.  I would think people would go there. This one  is  9 holes. 

THOUGHTS ABOUT EARP

DEC 31, 2017

We left Earp/Parker  yesterday, but wanted to comment about a few things.

In Parker,  we have to buy our water. It is 25 cents a gal. There are water dispensaries at the campgrounds and in front of every store.  You never realize how much water you use, between cooking and drinking, until you have to buy it. We go  thru about a gal a day. The first morning we were there I forgot and used it right out of the faucet. It tastes terrible, had to spit it out. The dish drainer turns brown and yellow in spots. UGH!!! You also have to buy it in Southern AZ, but, we aren't going there this year. We keep 3-4 empty gal jugs with us for the water.

Also, a note on recycling. In Renton, we recycle everything so much so that we have a very small garbage can.  Washington recycles alot more than another state. On the way down, no campgrounds recycled. At Menifee we were able to recycle everything.  At Parker, nothing but aluminum cans. Since we don't drink pop or beer (in cans),  we can't recycle anything. . Here, in Cottonwood, we again recycle everything.  Amazing how much garbage we have when there is no recycling. 

Had a good time in Earp/Parker. It is one of Denny's favorite parks, but we also visit our friends from Windsor, Canada. They stay the entire winter there. We met them several years ago. That's one of the nice perks about traveling, we meet so many people from all around the U.S. and Canada.

The average temperature was about 75, so we spent alot of time in the hot tub because our next stop was going to be much  colder. The picture below shows you our we spend most evenings

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I have some Christmas decorations, but I don't want to take up alot of storage for something that is up only a few weeks. Showing you some RV's that have alot of decorations.

There is  also a huge Santa in the back on the right side that is on the ground.

ON TO EARP, CALIFORNIA

Dec 21, 2017

Last Saturday we left Menifee to go to Earp, California. Had a great time in Menifee. We did a little geocaching, a little wine tasting, a little reading and a little relaxing.  Our reading consisted mostly of reading guide books on Italy and Ireland (more on that latter). 

Earp is a tiny little town of about 300 people.  It is on the Colorado River, which is the state line for AZ and California. It  was named after Wyatt Earp. For all the places Wyatt Earp lived,  this is the only place he actually bought a house. You can still see it.

One thing about being on the State Line is that my iPhone never knows what time it is. Eventho we are  technically still in Ca,  Earp goes on AZ time because we have to go  to Parker, AZ. for everything. AZ time is an hour ahead. When we first got here, my phone changed to AZ time. For the next 3 days, it went back to Ca time. Now, yesterday it went back to AZ time. Can be confusing if I forget!

There is absolutely nothing in Earp, so everyone has to go to Parker for groceries,  the drugstore and other misc shopping.  It is only 6 miles away across the river.  We came here to visit friends that we met several years ago from Windsor Canada. They winter here every year. Will probably doing basically the same thing here as Menifee except no wineries for wine tasting. Luckily we brought our own wine to tide us over. HA. 

It was 76 yesterday so went to the hot tub for the first time this trip. Today we are going to the movies to see the new Star Wars.  There is a casino here with a Movie Theatre.  Movies are $5 for seniors, can't beat that. Sometimes there are benefits to being old!!

Showing some pictures of tiny RV's, can't imagine living in them for any length of time. Certainly smaller than our 35 '.

This RV is on the opposite scale. Some RV'ers love their "toys" This RV is called a Toy Hauler. Notice the back end of this RV comes down. Inside are usually ATVs, motorcycles or even another car.

Notice the back of this truck is filled with an ATV. Can't imagine how they got it up there!!

Picture of us wine tasting in Temecula. We belong to this winery, if we lived in the area, we could get  free wine tasting EVERY day. This winery specializes in Champagne, my favorite !

We see different styles of this flag on RV's that winter here. They can spend 6 months here, hence the split flag. Or sometimes it's because there is one person from Canada and one person from the U.S.

FIRES AND THE SANTA ANA WINDS

DEC 11, 2017

Some people have been wondering if the fires have affected us. Happy to say, no. Most of the fires are north/northwest of L.A. and in L.A. along the coast. We are in Menifee, which is about 75 miles southeast.  Last Wed. we went to Hemet,  a small town northeast of here. It started as a beautiful day, a little windy,  but not bad. We were out geocaching. In the afternoon, the winds came up suddenly and we had to force the car door open. Couldn't even hold your head up. We got out of there, decided that was enough and headed home. I  had sand in my ears and I could even taste it in my mouth.  It was fine on the way home, but that evening and all the next day into the night, the Santa Ana winds were gale force. The RV was a rocking' and a rollin'.  There were branches and trees down all over the park.

Thursday, the Liberty🔥🔥 fire started  in Murrieta. YIKES, a little close, only 5 miles south of us. Lucky for us, the wind was going south to Temecula, not north. If it had turned, we would have had to probably evacuate to Palm Springs a little earlier than usual.  The Liberty Fire was the smallest of them all, only 300 acres compared to others at 250,000 acres.  It is now fully contained. The  other 5 are not. Can't imagine  how it is for all those people that have lost their homes. 

We had planned on going to Temecula on Friday for wine tasting, so I decided to call to see if they were open and how the smoke was.  Blue skies and no smoke, so off we went. It was hard to believe when we got to the wine country, that there  was even a fire close by🍷

It is now back to beautiful weather with no wind.  Not to make you jealous, but,  it has been almost 80 for the last few days, with lows in the 40's.  I can't tell a lie, YES, I told you about the weather to make you all jealous!! HA. Wish you were all here to enjoy it.

Amazing that on the west coast,  it is all  about fires, the south and east coast, unexpected  snow. 

LOVE IT!!

DEC 7 2017

We had to get a new printer for the RV this year. I had seen one a few years ago, but, at that time, didn't need it.  Our house printer quit, so I moved the RV printer to the house. Perfect excuse to get the one I have been wanting. It is the tiniest thing, but works great.  It is only 7.5" x 12.5" x 2.5" high. Copies and prints pictures just like the big boys. Just had to show you my new toy. Certainly takes up alot less storage than the old one. Storage is at a premium in an RV, so small is a good thing.

The lady in the next site to us told me about another space saving thing. It is called WashEZE. It is a fabric sheet that has detergent, softener and static control all in one. You just throw the sheet into the washer, then when done, throw it into the dryer.  No need to bring separate detergent, brighter and softer with you. she says it works great, but, I'm not sure I'll try it. Seems impossible 1 little sheet does it all. I looked it up and it is big in the military deployments, RVer's, people on vacation and living in other countries. 

The sheet on the right is new, the one on the left is what it looks like after use. The new sheet feels gummy and a little strange. After use, the lady just uses it in her house as a duster or cleaning cloth. Still undecided, but had to show you. Kind of strange to me!

CHRISTMAS IN THE MONSTER

DEC 5, 2017

Put out our Christmas decorations.  Eventho our RV is considered big (hence the Monster nickname), it certainly doesn't take long to decorate, half hour at the most. There is an attached end table. Except for the tree, I put all of the decorations in there. If it doesn't fit, I don't take it.  Everything is soft, no breakables. 

This is the little end table where all the decorations live. Notice the sun coming thru the window! Yea