A Good Day with Gord and Mavis

WHERE ARE WE? E. Cottonwood Canyon Rd. Florence, AZ

Today was a day of visiting with Gord and Mavis.  It was good to spend time with them remembering days gone past.  Our history goes back to the 70's so we can say we are old friends.  It was a nice warm day and we started with coffee and then moved on to setting up our new e bike.  I sent Sue on the test drive (in case anything was wrong)!!  We installed the cell phone carrier and the bike lock and new seat with shock absorber.  We are quite pleased with how well it works.  It will be good for taking Archie for a run every once in a while.  We rode it off and on all afternoon right up to sundown.

Sundown did sneak up on us very quickly.  As it sank in the west, we all experimented with our phones trying to outdo each other with our picture taking skills.  I took some time for some friends and sunsets.

We all sat outside and had our supper and then a fire.  We chatted around the fire for quite a while before calling it a day.

Like I said we all took sunset pictures and I did as well.  The colours were vivid tonight.

The view out my window today was of the setup Gord did to make sure we had lighting for our supper.  Thanks!!  Good Nite!

We Needed a New Microwave

WHERE ARE WE? E. Cottonwood Canyon Road, Florence AZ

We were up early for us and finished packing up Percy ready to move on.  We made a coffee after hooking up and sat around for our last morning coffee hour with these friends.  Ken had already headed to town to do laundry but we did say goodbye as he headed out.  We have had some fun with this group and now it is time to move on.  We have plans in Phoenix today and then hope to meet up with more friends east of Apache Junction.  See you all down the road!!

We headed east on I-10 and hammered along for a couple of hours.  They have some pretty bad roads in Arizona and this is one of them in places.  Another thing along this road is pieces of rubber from semi tires covering the shoulder and ditch of the road for 2 solid hours.  I bet there are the ruminants of thousands of tires between Quartzsite and Phoenix.  Sure makes it look messy along the road.

All the black things are pieces of rubber.  It went on for over 100 miles.

It wasn't long and we arrived in Phoenix.  What a busy city!!!  And it is huge!!

We had to go way up to the North side on 101 to find the place we had come to visit.  After a couple wrong turns, there it was.  lectric e bikes.  

We found a place to park and went in.  This is the company headquarters and this is where the online order and customer service happens. They also have a showroom and you can test drive any of the bikes they manufacture.  We got to ride a couple for a while through the nice quiet neighborhood which surrounds the facility and finally picked the bike that I have researched as being the one that will best suit our needs.  Yes we only got on because we are not avid bikers, but will rather use it for getting from point A to point B most of the time independently.  If we decide we need another bike so we can ride together then will will pick one up.  We got a really good deal today because they extended their Black Friday Sale to today.  I will report more tomorrow when we get our set up and going.

That be the new e bike.

So we headed out to find our friends in the desert.  We hadn't gone 10 miles and there was an awful crash in the MH and we looked back and the microwave was on the floor smashed to smithereens!!!  Remember the cupboard painting?  Well we had taken the mount screws out to remove the microwave so we could paint around it easier.  Well when I slid the microwave back in, we left it out a bit to let the paint dry.   Well the screws are still sitting on the counter and the microwave just slid out when we made a corner.  Oh well, Walmart makes microwaves every day.  Probably time for a new one anyway!!  It did scare the heck out of Archie cause it landed right in front of the chair he was curled up on. 

A quick stop for groceries and we headed out on 60 towards Globe and then turned south of 79 for about 8 miles to E. Cottonwood Canyon Road and then about a mile east to a quiet spot in the desert.  There we met up with Gord and Mavis.  They have been here for a day or so and we want to spend a little time with them.  

We had bought a pizza for supper so we took it over to their MH and ate and visited and watched a hockey game.  Its always fun to visit with them because we go back a long ways.  We will spend the day with them tomorrow before moving on to Tucson.

I think Archie was glad to be moving again and he settled in to watch a sunset from the dash.  He had a good day and we hope you did too.  Good Nite!

Finally Got a Bonfire

WHERE ARE WE? Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite AZ

Today was laundry day so we headed in to Q with our baskets.  Right beside the laundry is a nice little cafe bistro type thing called Basics, so we decided to have a sandwich and cinnamon bun.  I love the van outside the door.  I think it is a 1949 Ford like I used to drive.

Anyone can imagine what a sandwich and a cinnamon bun would look like, but the guy next to us had a chili dog.  Well I had to take a picture because we do chili dogs at Cj's but they don't look this sloppily good.  Maybe we will have to change it up a bit.  I think they toast the top before serving.  Anyway the food we had was delicious and I would certainly recommend them. 

We had been trying to work in a little visit with Bill and Patsy for a while and because we are leaving tomorrow we decided to drop by and visit right after lunch.  Bill and Sue got busy working on some TV stuff while Patsy and I watched.  I'm not sure what all they did but they seemed to be satisfied with the result in the end.

Its amazing how quickly a couple hours slip by.  We have always enjoyed their company and this was no different.  We will cross paths with them again sometime I'm sure.  

Patsy gave us a little painted rock lady bug which we will find a special spot in the MH for.  Thanks.

I had some packing to do and there are a few leftovers from the solar install that I had to find room for.  I managed to get it all packed away after a little re-arranging.

We have been trying to have a bonfire for a few days now and we either had something else on, or the wind was too high.  Tonight we managed to get one and just in time as we are leaving tomorrow.   We burned some scrap lumber, the cardboard from all my Amazon solar shipments and Tom went out in the wash and retrieved some actual wood.  It all made for a good fire.  Thanks Tom!!!!

That was our day today.  Time for bed, Good Nite!!!

A Cool Do Nothing Day

WHERE ARE WE? Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite AZ

Well after a busy day yesterday, we just wanted to veg today, so that's what we did.  Sue had a sleep in and I got up normal time but had a nice nap later in the afternoon.  Deb K and I went to town to get some propane in the morning and then I did some stuff on the computer in the early afternoon before my nap, and soon it was time for Happy Hour.  I wasn't there for the first part of it and when I arrived, I was told that they had a meeting and took a vote and we are now leaving on Tuesday instead of Monday.  Apparently, they had a quorum and my presence at the meeting was not required for voting.  So I guess we will stay another day.  We will be in good company. 

Although we are in no real hurry, the last few nights have been quite chilly and some of the afternoons less than desirable with some wind going on.  I have been watching the weather and it will be ok for the next few days, in a week or so it takes quite a dip.  Our next destination after quick stops in Goodyear/Phoenix and then a couple days in Tucson, will be San Carlos Mexico.  The weather there looks much better so we will keep moving towards there.  We will be meeting Sandra and Michael there and boondocking on the beach.

Guaymas is next door to San Carlos

I sort of cheated on the window shot tonight.  This is Tom and Debs window and I combined it with a nice red sunset.  Good Nite!!

Off to the Races

WHERE ARE WE? Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite AZ

Susan finished putting together part of the bottom section of cupboards this morning, that she had painted yesterday.  They are looking pretty good. 

We also had to take Percy across the way to dump and take on water.  We are planning to move on on Monday but we were down to our last gallon of water so rather than use the water bladder in the jeep to fill the tank, we just took the whole rig. 

About 2 pm Deb K. picked us up in her truck and we headed to Yuma.  Riley offered to look after Archie which was great cause now we don't have to deal with him in the truck.  I climbed in the back seat and lay down to get my back under control.  I took a few pictures from my perch in the back as we travelled south on 95 highway, past the Proving Grounds and on into Yuma.  

A couple stops at Home Depot and Walmart for some things that were not readily available in Quartzsite.  Deb is what is known as a Farker!! (a Far Parker!)  She parks her vehicles as far away from the store as possible!!!  LOL  We almost had to catch a city bus to get to Home Depot from where she parked!!!  Just kidding Deb.  The walk didn't hurt us at all.

Then we slid over to Cracker Barrel for a yummy supper.  For any of our Canadian friends who don't frequent the USA, Cracker Barrel is a unique restaurant chain that has good food and a very unique interior.  Before you even enter they have rows of rocking chairs for sitting in and for sale on the outside.

Then you walk through the doors and they have a neat little store with all kinds of trinkets and knick knacks.  

Then on into the restaurant which features a fireplace that is always lit and lots of antiques and pictures on the walls.  Very rustic and fabulous food!!  Biscuits and gravy and grits and fried chicken and all sorts of southern stuff.

So the reason we came to Yuma was to go to the car races.  Yuma has a nice dirt track oval with some pretty good racing.  Today was the Turkey Classic and was the wind up of the year.   We saw lots of good racing from 6 pm till 10.  

Deb, Sue and I

Lots of fast action with very few wrecks

These cars reminded me of our friend Jeff Dickson back home. 

Kids class.  Probably 7 years old.  And ONLY the winner got a trophy.  The rest were shown the pits.

My favourites are still the old classic body style cars.

It was a cool but great evening of racing, but by 10 we were ready to hit the road home.  We did get to follow a cop for a while to keep us slowed down.

We were back home in the desert in about an hour and a half and managed to crawl into bed just before midnight.  Great day again!  My view out the window earlier today when I was laying in the back seat of the truck.