No, we haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been having so much fun, I couldn't find a good time to update the blog. Sorry to all you folks who have been wondering and worrying about us and I'll try to get you updated as soon as possible.
When we last updated the blog, we were heading from Illinois and our son's family toward Texas by way of Kansas to look at some custom-made fifthwheels. We took our time and scouted out some very lovely campsites where we spent a night or two before getting into Kansas and the first custom trailer maker which was Spacecraft. We spent approximately 1/2 a day there visiting with the folks and looking at the current fifthwheel they were building. We must say that Spacecraft is truly a custom made rig from the bottom up. You draw up the plans and select every detail. Then the plans are given to their engineers to make sure that the finished product will be safe and roadworthy. Once that approval is given, you choose every single thing you want- just as you would in building a house. We were impressed with them, but aren't sure we really want to get into that much detail. So, on we drove to New Horizons. They also make a custom fifthwheel, but they do it differently. They have several floor plans to choose from and you can add or subtract, within reason. We had initially been very impressed with this factory when we saw them about three years ago, but we decided this wasn’t really the way we wanted to go either. The prices would certainly make you think that there should be a lot of quality there, but the fact is, there isn’t. Our old fifthwheel is looking better and better.
After roaming around the trailer manufacturers, we decided to head over to Hutchinson, Kansas and spend a week just resting up. After a few days of getting chores done and getting in some good reading, we decided to take a trip to the Kansas Underground Salt Museum.
The adventure began aboard a double decked elevator that took us to the mine carved from salt deposits formed 275 million years ago. While going down, you are surrounded by total, black, black darkness. (I know that is repetitive, but I mean to tell you, it was really, really dark!) When the doors open 650 feet below, we were surrounded by walls that stretched for miles in a calm, exotic subterranean world where it is always 69 degrees. We boarded a tram and were given a very detailed ride and description of the salt deposit. From 1923 to 1965, the Carey Salt Company mined salt from this huge deposit. It also is a storage facility for many important documents, tapes, and materials.
Once we left Kansas, we headed to Huntsville, Texas to visit with Jan’s parents. We parked our rig at the Elks Lodge in Huntsville and spent three great weeks visiting with George’s sister and brother-in-law and Jan’s parents. They were having a sun porch built on to their home and it is really going to be nice. We know it will give them many, many hours of enjoyment.
Though we hated to leave there, we felt we’d better move on if we wanted to make it to the desert before the winter was over. 
However, on the way, we definitely wanted to stop to visit with our dearest friend, Nancy, in New Braunfels. We had a great five days with her, shopping and spending evening hours sitting in front of the fire with a good glass of wine and her favorite, furry companions, Nell and Willow. 
Then gradually we made our way back over to Yuma, Arizona where we would spend the better part of the winter.
We arrived in Coyote Ridge (which is about 20 miles outside Yuma and about 4 miles from the Yuma Proving Grounds) around November 11th. Several of our Canadian friends were here already and we began settling in. We quickly adopted somewhat of a routine in that we’d watch the sunrise come over the mountains, have breakfast and then step outside our door to the golf course and play “sand golf”. For those of you who have never played, let me explain. First of all, you don’t have to have any ability for golf in order to play “sand golf”. You tee your ball up on a small rubber tee that looks somewhat like a small funnel. Then you hit the ball and watch closely. Once it hits the rocks, it may continue on toward the green (which is really very fine sand), or it may bounce all the way back to you. We normally play on teams and use the best ball for each shot. At any rate, it can make the most experienced golfer very humble! We normally play 9 holes in the morning and 9 holes in the afternoon. Along about the middle of February, we will have a golf tournament which will consist of about 100 golfers, a potluck, and who know what else!
Now, if you don’t want to golf, there are lots of other things to do. Happy hours are most days at 4:00 p.m. and you can really learn lots of interesting and exciting things at those times – such as who got locked in their bathroom the night before when the door handle got stuck and who’s going to be heading up the public works department out here to ensure that water and waste tanks are emptied? Anyway, as you can see, it is a worthwhile event even if you didn’t want to have a glass of wine and cheese and crackers. Okay, so if that is not your cup of tea, how about a trip to Algodones, Mexico. We always go to get our teeth cleaned and pick up thyroid medication (a year’s supply costs $10.00) – usually avoiding the hawkers with all the junk for sale. If Mexico is not your bag, we can always go to the Arizona market where booths are set up to sell all sorts of things that snowbirds and rvers can’t do without.
As if this is not enough, we also have campfires at night, play games, participate in horseshoe tournaments, and cheer on the homemade boats that race in a children’s swimming pool. There’s hiking and animal watching also. For as many years as I can remember, there has been a donkey, named Jack, who has always visited the many rvers out here. He normally comes around about 4:00 p.m. (as someone always has some stale bread to feed him at happy hour). Jack also loves to have people scratch his back with a yard rake, but he has no great love for dogs! Of course, the feeling is mutual with McKenzie now that she knows that he’s not an overgrown, furry, dog! We were walking in the wash one day and met Jack. He started to come over to us and McKenzie immediately took the “attack stance” and barked, growled and howled at him. Jack did a “Mr. Ed” with his lips and “hee-hawed” as loud as he could. This went on about two minutes between Jack “hee-hawing” and McKenzie barking and then finally everyone decided to just go on their way. McKenzie was sure she could have “taken” Jack and once he turned tail and began to amble away, she tugged on the leash and wanted to chase him down. I figured we were blessed enough to have him leave us alone and refused to let her have her way. We also have coyotes (not good for McKenzie – we watch her very closely when she is outside the trailer) and small red kit foxes that like to join the campfires. I’m sure there are lots of other creepy, crawling things that are currently under the ground and as far as I am concerned, they can stay there!
We are fortunate this year to have one of the Canadians who has lots of power and has set up a Wifi for everyone to use. Imagine, we are out in the middle of the desert, but can still send e-mails and update the blog! What a deal!! I’ll sign off for now but will try to keep a regular update going while we are out here. Stay tuned and we’ll join you again soon.
When we last updated the blog, we were heading from Illinois and our son's family toward Texas by way of Kansas to look at some custom-made fifthwheels. We took our time and scouted out some very lovely campsites where we spent a night or two before getting into Kansas and the first custom trailer maker which was Spacecraft. We spent approximately 1/2 a day there visiting with the folks and looking at the current fifthwheel they were building. We must say that Spacecraft is truly a custom made rig from the bottom up. You draw up the plans and select every detail. Then the plans are given to their engineers to make sure that the finished product will be safe and roadworthy. Once that approval is given, you choose every single thing you want- just as you would in building a house. We were impressed with them, but aren't sure we really want to get into that much detail. So, on we drove to New Horizons. They also make a custom fifthwheel, but they do it differently. They have several floor plans to choose from and you can add or subtract, within reason. We had initially been very impressed with this factory when we saw them about three years ago, but we decided this wasn’t really the way we wanted to go either. The prices would certainly make you think that there should be a lot of quality there, but the fact is, there isn’t. Our old fifthwheel is looking better and better.
After roaming around the trailer manufacturers, we decided to head over to Hutchinson, Kansas and spend a week just resting up. After a few days of getting chores done and getting in some good reading, we decided to take a trip to the Kansas Underground Salt Museum.
The adventure began aboard a double decked elevator that took us to the mine carved from salt deposits formed 275 million years ago. While going down, you are surrounded by total, black, black darkness. (I know that is repetitive, but I mean to tell you, it was really, really dark!) When the doors open 650 feet below, we were surrounded by walls that stretched for miles in a calm, exotic subterranean world where it is always 69 degrees. We boarded a tram and were given a very detailed ride and description of the salt deposit. From 1923 to 1965, the Carey Salt Company mined salt from this huge deposit. It also is a storage facility for many important documents, tapes, and materials.Once we left Kansas, we headed to Huntsville, Texas to visit with Jan’s parents. We parked our rig at the Elks Lodge in Huntsville and spent three great weeks visiting with George’s sister and brother-in-law and Jan’s parents. They were having a sun porch built on to their home and it is really going to be nice. We know it will give them many, many hours of enjoyment.
Though we hated to leave there, we felt we’d better move on if we wanted to make it to the desert before the winter was over. However, on the way, we definitely wanted to stop to visit with our dearest friend, Nancy, in New Braunfels. We had a great five days with her, shopping and spending evening hours sitting in front of the fire with a good glass of wine and her favorite, furry companions, Nell and Willow. Then gradually we made our way back over to Yuma, Arizona where we would spend the better part of the winter.We arrived in Coyote Ridge (which is about 20 miles outside Yuma and about 4 miles from the Yuma Proving Grounds) around November 11th. Several of our Canadian friends were here already and we began settling in. We quickly adopted somewhat of a routine in that we’d watch the sunrise come over the mountains, have breakfast and then step outside our door to the golf course and play “sand golf”. For those of you who have never played, let me explain. First of all, you don’t have to have any ability for golf in order to play “sand golf”. You tee your ball up on a small rubber tee that looks somewhat like a small funnel. Then you hit the ball and watch closely. Once it hits the rocks, it may continue on toward the green (which is really very fine sand), or it may bounce all the way back to you. We normally play on teams and use the best ball for each shot. At any rate, it can make the most experienced golfer very humble! We normally play 9 holes in the morning and 9 holes in the afternoon. Along about the middle of February, we will have a golf tournament which will consist of about 100 golfers, a potluck, and who know what else!
Now, if you don’t want to golf, there are lots of other things to do. Happy hours are most days at 4:00 p.m. and you can really learn lots of interesting and exciting things at those times – such as who got locked in their bathroom the night before when the door handle got stuck and who’s going to be heading up the public works department out here to ensure that water and waste tanks are emptied? Anyway, as you can see, it is a worthwhile event even if you didn’t want to have a glass of wine and cheese and crackers. Okay, so if that is not your cup of tea, how about a trip to Algodones, Mexico. We always go to get our teeth cleaned and pick up thyroid medication (a year’s supply costs $10.00) – usually avoiding the hawkers with all the junk for sale. If Mexico is not your bag, we can always go to the Arizona market where booths are set up to sell all sorts of things that snowbirds and rvers can’t do without.
As if this is not enough, we also have campfires at night, play games, participate in horseshoe tournaments, and cheer on the homemade boats that race in a children’s swimming pool. There’s hiking and animal watching also. For as many years as I can remember, there has been a donkey, named Jack, who has always visited the many rvers out here. He normally comes around about 4:00 p.m. (as someone always has some stale bread to feed him at happy hour). Jack also loves to have people scratch his back with a yard rake, but he has no great love for dogs! Of course, the feeling is mutual with McKenzie now that she knows that he’s not an overgrown, furry, dog! We were walking in the wash one day and met Jack. He started to come over to us and McKenzie immediately took the “attack stance” and barked, growled and howled at him. Jack did a “Mr. Ed” with his lips and “hee-hawed” as loud as he could. This went on about two minutes between Jack “hee-hawing” and McKenzie barking and then finally everyone decided to just go on their way. McKenzie was sure she could have “taken” Jack and once he turned tail and began to amble away, she tugged on the leash and wanted to chase him down. I figured we were blessed enough to have him leave us alone and refused to let her have her way. We also have coyotes (not good for McKenzie – we watch her very closely when she is outside the trailer) and small red kit foxes that like to join the campfires. I’m sure there are lots of other creepy, crawling things that are currently under the ground and as far as I am concerned, they can stay there!
We are fortunate this year to have one of the Canadians who has lots of power and has set up a Wifi for everyone to use. Imagine, we are out in the middle of the desert, but can still send e-mails and update the blog! What a deal!! I’ll sign off for now but will try to keep a regular update going while we are out here. Stay tuned and we’ll join you again soon.
1 comment:
Hello Jan & George, We've been wondering about you and after checking your blog, we can see you are having a great time. Glad you can get email. Will be keeping in touch with you. I probably will be going back to Houston tomorrow to help with my mom who is not feeling well at this time.
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