Happy New Year!

 Slept in late this morning.  It was almost 9:30 before I got up and started my coffee pot.  It had rained quite a bit overnight lightly and there were puddles in the low lying areas.  Fortunately it is warm and the clouds are to be gone by noon.

Around 11:30, Tom was nice enough to take me over to the sand dunes to get around 50 gallons of fresh water in his rubber water bag.  I was down to my last 10 gallons.

The three of us laid out in the nice sun part of the afternoon till 3:30 and time to head over to Tom and Deb's (Celebrating the Dance)for New Years Eve Happy Hour.  Shane and Cathy were already there.  And of course Yuma begging for a handout😀

We had a nice afternoon till the sun creeped down and the chill got in the air.  Time to call it the last night of the old year 2021!  Yuma made one last friend for this year.

Looking forward to a brand new year!  Happy New Year to my family and to you and yours!

First trip out of the country to Mexico

 Hello! This is Nick, Doug's grandson. Ill be sharing my first trip out of the country to Mexico. We woke up this morning a little earlier than usual, around 8:30, in anticipation for me making the journey with Tom and Deb to Mexico. We were planning on leaving at 9:30. I had a quick bowl of cereal and got dressed and I was ready! With the extra time I had before I made my departure I wrote in my journals. One is just for how I'm feeling and the other is a dream journal. I had an interesting one that Grandpa was a high school teacher and I was in his class! I went outside to walk around for a bit but right when I walked out the door I saw Tom and Deb heading my way. 

It was a quick drive over to Los Algodones. We parked right outside Mexico in a big parking lot and headed into the country. Before we were even across I noticed someone asking if I wanted any dental or optical work done. This would be a common question throughout the day. We got through with no issues and didn't even have to talk to anyone or show any passports. 

Right when we got inside the vendors tried to get me to buy anything they were selling. From jewelry, to wallets, to sunglasses, to hats. This would not be a fun place to be if you have trouble saying no to people! We walked up and down the streets looking at all the trinkets you could buy. 

After browsing for awhile we decided to get some lunch. I was surprised when we got inside the restaurant there was still people trying to sell us stuff! I got three chicken tacos and a mango margarita thanks to Tom and Deb. We enjoyed our meal and sat and talked for awhile. We also listened to the musicians play live music. I should have taken more pictures of the inside! Before long we were ready for our final stop, the pharmacy.

The building across the street from where we ate lunch

While Tom and Deb did their thing, I hung out outside to try and take a few more pictures because I realized I had been slacking! 

Sleepy pup

While taking pictures I had a few short conversations with some of the locals. I met this guy who wanted his picture taken.

His friend told me to caption the picture "Chulo"

We then regrouped and decided to head back. We got to the line and luckily it wasn't a huge line. There was vendors trying to sell you stuff even on the way out! I also ran into my friend from earlier who wanted his picture taken and we said our farewells. After making our way through security we got back to the car and headed back to base.

Last look back to Mexico

We made one last detour and went down a dirt road along the Colorado river just outside Mexico. We passed by a decent amount of people camping out back there in the tall brush. Towards the end there was a big pet cemetery.

Another short drive back to our spots and I was in the white lion ready to rest for a little bit. Grandpa and Yuma came back about 30 minutes later from hanging out with Shane and Cathy. It sounded like things went good while I was gone but Yuma was worried about me! We hung out for a little bit, then made some burgers for dinner, then it was time to write the blog! Now's time for dessert and off to bed. Thanks for stopping by. 

Trump Wall and Pilot Knob Mountain

 This morning we could tell it was going to be a beautiful day, so after a shortened breakfast it was decided we would travel the short distance to Pilot Knob and check out the area.  The area we will travel first goes around Pilot Knob Mountain and along the Colorado River separating us from Mexico.

The road led us right down to the river, but unfortunately the wall is on the other side, so no jumping the fence into Mexico for us today. 😀

We drove around to the east side of the mountain and there is a beautiful view of the river cutting through a growth of palm trees.

We then headed back to the north side of the mountain and I used my fantastic memory to locate the path to the top. 😁  I couldn't believe it when I actually found it on my first attempt.  I looked back on my last hike to the top and was shocked to find it was only last December.  Some similar and beautiful pictures from last year in my link.  Here are some pictures of today's hike.

See the Jeep below just in front of Nick?

Starting to lag behind! 😨

Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

Made it to the top. 😀

The wall going through the sand dunes.

Mexico in the distance.

Heading down.

Yuma leading the way.

A short rest.

Made it home around 3:30, just in time for Happy Hour.  Beautiful late afternoon get together at Tom and Deb's place with Shane and Cathy.  And we had three visitors from Pilot Knob RV Resort, Bill, Patsy and little cutie Gibbs.

Aww!  What a cutie! 😍

Gibbs loves his Mommy!💓

Long day, but a lot of fun!  Thanks for stopping by.

An Electronics kind of day

 Last night I went to sleep with inverters dancing in my head! 😃  I hope it is the last night I have to leave my generator going all night to keep my fridge cold.

Woke up early around 8 o'clock with the sun shining and no wind.  Always good.  Waited till around 9 to take Yuma for a walk and then get ready to head to RV Connection to hopefully pick up a new inverter.

By 9:30 we were on our way.  Tom, the owner was hard at work installing a satellite system when we arrived.

Went inside to talk to Tom's son, Jordan.  He had received a new shipment of inverters and said a couple were not spoken for so I wanted to make sure I got dibs on one of them.

We talked and decided I would work directly with Go Power on the issue with my old inverter and if they sent a new one, I would have a back-up.  If not, at least I would be up and running with the new one.

We got home at 1 o'clock but not without stopping at Best Buy for an new Visio Smart TV.  That will be a discussion for another day.

I went to work installing the new inverter right away.  Bill On Our Way  stopped over to see if there was anything he could do.  We searched for fuses that could be blown but couldn't find any, so I continued my installation.  

Finally, at 4:30 I was ready to switch it on and see if there was power.  Anxiously, I peaked in the fridge to see if the light was on.  And it was 😀😀😀.   I was so happy to see power without hearing it.

Went over to the Happy Hour at Tom and Deb's place Celebrating the Dance and I was late but Shane and Cathy were still there.  Told then the good news and we chatted for just a bit and soon was time to come home to fix hotdogs for dinner.

It's been a long and hectic day for me but in the end all is well, I hope! 😧  I promised Nick and Yuma that tomorrow will be a day for exploring and not another day of running around Yuma looking for stuff.

Thanks for stopping by.

Boondocking with a generator

 I'm into day three of no solar and I'm sick and tired of the sound of that generator.  Overslept a little this morning, so as soon as I took Yuma for his morning walk, I headed for Yuma with no breakfast.

I bought my solar set-up here in Yuma at RV Connection, so that's where I headed.  Unfortunately, they are located on the very east side of Yuma and I'm 16 miles west. 😒  Got there a little after 10 and the owner's son and part of the team came to my window to tell me they were closed for the day!

He was there waiting on a delivery of inverters from FedEx.  I chatted with him and the final say was he would contact Go Power about my broken inverter and he said the delivery would include a 2000 watt inverter I could buy tomorrow. 😊  

When all is over I may have two inverters, but that is fine.  Always good to have a back-up.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be up and running with solar once more.

This morning was cloudy and chilly when I left and still the same when I got home at 12:30.  We stayed indoors all day and the Happy Hour was cancelled because of a cool breeze and lack of a warm sun.  It did pop out shortly before nightfall.

We had a quick dinner of sandwiches and our yummy whip cream and pudding for desert.  Now we're watching Monday Night football.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day after Christmas

I was still stuffed when I woke up this morning.  Laid in bed till around 9 o'clock until Yuma couldn't take it and we went for our morning walk.  No wind, with clouds covering the sun to the east, but blue skies to the west, so it's going to be a nice day.

 Due to the holiday activity, I haven't mentioned my main solar inverter went on the fritz so I have been utilizing my generator quite a bit the last few days.  A real bummer for a boondocker 😠  Tomorrow when things open, I'll be able to take some steps to solve my problem.  Hopefully, fairly quickly.

The three of us stuck around home today lying outside in the sun or watching football games.  A normal Sunday activity.

It was around 4 o'clock when I went over to Tom and Deb's place to join the group for Happy Hour.

Yuma just loves racing over to the neighbors.  He's looking back wondering why it takes me so long!  He just loves lying outside in the sun on his rug enjoying the warm sun.

We chatted about world events and just enjoyed the evening.  Deb had a bowl of almonds cooked in cinnamon and honey.  I couldn't stop eating them they were so delicious!  A couple of stuffed eggs and I was good to go for the evening.

As the sun set, I headed home for an evening of more football and then will call it a day.  We had a beautiful sunset tonight.

Sunset over the Dunes.

Day's End

Christmas Day

Hope everyone had a  great Christmas!

We had a great day relaxing in the desert and then some football on TV with friends and a fantastic dinner!  Thank you, Cathy and Shane and Deb and Tom for such a wonderful evening!

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas

 Woke up this morning, Christmas Eve and my big agenda was to do laundry.  Early this morning waves of rain clouds passed over and gave us a little rain, not much to speak of.  I didn't get up till 9:30 waiting for it to stop.  It finally did and the sun came out.  Luckily, it was warm all morning and the sun made it that much nicer.   

One last big rain came through late morning and then all three of us headed into west Yuma to do laundry.

We returned around 3:30 just in time to go over to the tent at Shane and Cathy's place and enjoy a huge smorgasbord of chicken wrapped in bacon, meatballs, cheese, crackers with dip and yummy sugar cookies.  We had our fill and talked for awhile enjoying the company and then we headed back to our place in the dark clear night.  We were hoping the strong winds would die down, but they never did.

Missed Gold Rush but did catch two hours of Freddy Dodge and that was our evening.  Caught a picture of our first Christmas Hummingbird! 😀

Merry Christmas to all!