Happy New Year's Eve

 It was another foggy and cloudy New Year Eve morning.  We waited until the fog lifted before getting out of bed this morning.  When we did get up for our first walk, it was quite cloudy.

Stayed cloudy and cool for most of the day and that kept us all in for most of the day.

I could hear the roar from the many dune buggies over in the sand dunes.  A little cloudy weather doesn't stop them.

Luckily, late in the afternoon, the sun peeked out and the wind died down.  It was just in time for a beautiful sunset and gave us the opportunity to enjoy a very nice campfire for the evening.

Deb, Riley, Tom, Deb and I sat around and enjoyed a beautiful campfire.  Yuma stayed home because of all the fireworks going on.  At 10 o'clock I called it a night and headed home to be with Yuma.

Hope everyone has a great 2023 and thanks for stopping by.

Meeting a friend and work on my steps

 This morning when I woke up at 7:30, I wondered why it was dark out.  Opened the sash and what did I see.  FOG!

There was a mist, so wet it felt like drizzle when I stepped outside.  When the mountains emerged from the mist, they looked like they had snow on them, but at 56 degrees, no chance.

Spent the morning, after breakfast doing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen area.  I only do dishes about once a week.  Most of it is plastic silverware, bowls and cups.  If I would throw them away, I would rarely need to do dishes.  But I can't seem to throw away perfectly good plastic ware.

As I was finishing up, Eric and Susan stopped by in their motorhome.  They're pulling out and headed further into California to Palm Springs to meet friends.  I'm sure I will see them again before the winter is through.

After everything dried up and the sun peaked out, I decided to work on the steps again.  Need to figure out how to keep them up now that I removed the electric arm that pushed them down and pulled them up. 

I ended up drilling holes in the steel walls of the bays on either side of the steps and running a metal rod across to hold them up.  Now I have manual steps that nothing can go wrong with.  Happy camper for now.  If the White Lion makes it home then I'll fix the electrical problem.

All done and near 4 o'clock, I decided to see if I could find Gaelyn, Geogypsy.  In her last post she mentioned she was camped near the Tumco Mine just a few miles north of my place.  We usually try to catch up with each other at least once each winter season.

I did manage to spot her pick-up camper way back near the base of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

Gaelyn

We had a very nice chat till the sun dropped low and the chill started to move in and we said goodbye until the next time.

Yuma and I made it home just in time for Gold Rush and dinner.  Forgot to pull something out of the freezer, AGAIN!  So, it was a ham and cheese sandwich with chips and dip for supper.  Could have had hotdogs, so I did have a choice.

Watching Gold Rush, White Water and finishing my post for tonight's blog.  Can't wait for my Tapioca pudding with lots of whip cream for desert.  Another busy day.

Thanks for stopping by.

New Friends and a visit to Mexico

 Slept in late this morning, AGAIN!  Yuma had me up a couple times last night and I did my Wordle for the day before going back to sleep.

A week or so ago, Yuma met a new friend in a motorhome near us and I went over to get him before he got in trouble.  Turned out to be a young couple working on the road from Ontario, Canada.  This is their first road trip south of the border.  

Haven't gotten a tow vehicle yet, so yesterday, I asked them to join me on my quick trip back to Los Algodones, Mexico.  I wanted to stop into the place I bought my glasses to have them tightened.  

We left a little after 10 o'clock and quickly stopped at the glasses shop and then next door for brunch.

Eric and Susan

They both bought authentic Mexican lunches and I stuck with the BLT, fries and a coke.  We had a one man band playing American classics and Mexican music.

After brunch, we walked around the main vendor streets and looked at what they had to offer.

Beautiful combination of colors.

View of the old wall and the new wall.  Not sure what the small monument is for.

Wall at the end of the street.

They got a taste of Mexico and I believe they had a great time learning the basic ropes of going in to and out of Mexico.  They were surprised at how easy it was with the proper paperwork.

We got back to camp at 2:30 and soon after, Yuma and I were over at Tom's place for happy hour.  Today was a little overcast and cooler than normal, so called it a night early.

This evening, Yuma and I had nice dinners and I'm now watching the Thursday Night Football and working on my post for the evening.  Had an enjoyable and relaxing day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Laundry Day!

 I've been putting off doing laundry, but after two months I was getting low on shorts.  It rained all last night, but cleared this morning.  No big floods in the washes, not even a trickle.  Ground is so dry, it soaked the water right up.

This morning at 9 o'clock the clouds were just disappearing and it turned into another gorgeous day.  I was hoping it would be cloudy so I wouldn't ruin a beautiful day doing laundry, but no such luck. :(  

After visiting with Tom, Deb, Deb and Riley and having breakfast, I got everything together and headed into Yuma at 1 o'clock.  Four loads of laundry later, Yuma and I were heading back to California.  It was near 4 o'clock by the time we pulled into our spot.

Too tired to unload the laundry, that I had folded, Yuma and I went over to Tom's and chatted for awhile till dinner time.  There has been a lot of fireworks popping and that put poor Yuma shaking in fear.  Going to be rough for Yuma between now and the first of 2023.

Had a nice filling dinner tonight and got my laundry in and put up.  Already almost 9 o'clock and time to get ready for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Do nothing day!

 

Slept in this morning till 9 and I missed the beautiful sunrise.  Deb, On a long and lonesome highway....  didn't.  I joined Deb outside her place for awhile.  Tom had to go into Yuma for an appointment.

In the afternoon, I tried to fix my electric steps to no avail.  Got them part way down and couldn't get them back up.  Not good!  So, I detached the arm that moves them up and down and now they are down.  I'll worry tomorrow about how to get them up and safely stay up.  Had enough of crawling under the WL for one day.

Had leftovers again tonight and I'm tired, so going to bed early.  Thanks for stopping by.

Gold Rock Ranch

 Poor Yuma had a miserable morning.  All his friends left early this morning to Mexico.  Tom had a dental appointment.  I wasn't up for leaving at 7 o'clock in the morning, so I slept in and had a leisurely morning.  Yuma kept looking over there and occasionally, he would walk over that way hoping someone would come out and greet him.

They all returned around noon and we all sat around and talked for awhile.  For the rest of the early afternoon, I sat in my lounge chair enjoying the beautiful day.  We reached 80 degrees here in the desert, which is above normal for this time of year, but I'll take it.

Around 2:30, Yuma and I took a ride to the dunes to make a garbage run and then we went to Gold Rock Ranch.  It has a lot of history.  Located just four miles directly west of Tumco, California.  It is now a ghost town, but once was a mining town in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, just north of where I am camping.

The Ranch has an RV Park and those that wish to disappear, this is the perfect place.  It looks to me that most of the residents are permanent.  I didn't take pictures of the campground, but there are lots of Tumco machinery around the Ranch.

Main building and museum.  Closed today.  Open Thursday - Sunday.

Returned home and visited for a little bit till dinner time.  Had leftovers tonight and it was yummy.  Watching Monday Night Football and will call it a day when the game is over.

Dolly sent this beautiful picture of a male and female cardinal on our bird feeder this morning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas!

 

A day spent with good friends and good food!

Thanks for stopping by.

Beautiful Christmas Eve

 Another late morning.  By the time I opened the door for Yuma this morning, it was nearly 10 o'clock and 60 degrees out.  Supposed to be a beautiful day with a high of 75.

I went over to Tom's place with my coffee, but everyone had left, I was so late.  Tom came out and we talked a little bit and soon Deb came out to join us and a little later, Deb and Riley returned from their morning walk.

It was noon by the time Yuma and I returned to have our breakfast and Deb had volunteered to help me put my Big Buddy heater back together.  It was a one person job to take apart but needed four hands to put back together.  With her help we managed to put it together and had no screws left over.  And it still works!

Needless to say, the day went quickly.  Tom and Deb wanted to have a fire after dinner to celebrate Christmas Eve and Tom had spent part of the day building a fire pit and cutting a large amount of firewood for tonight and tomorrow night.

We had a very nice time sitting around the fire chatting about what ever came to mind.  It was a nice way to spend Christmas Eve and I hope yours was just as nice.

Thank you for stopping by.

Shopping day!

 It had been quite awhile since I went to the store and I was getting low on everything.  I had planned on going last evening, but I was very tired from the day's activities.  Plus, I had no credit cards on me, so I was broke.  You'll find out why in a moment.

This morning, I slept in till 9 o'clock and when I got up it was cold in the WL, so I turned on the heat.  Then I opened the door to let Yuma out to find that it was warm and sunny outside, so I turned off the heater and just let sun do its job.

Poor Dolly lost power last night for a few hours, but luckily it came back on at bedtime.  This morning, she said it was -7 this morning after a night low of -10.  Pretty rough for our part of the country in central Illinois.  She said it was -35 with the wind chill.  Luckily, we only got about an inch of snow.

I felt bad telling Dolly, it was going to be 70 here today with a low of 50.  And we did have a very nice day with little wind and a lot of sun.

It was around 11 o'clock when Deb, Riley and I headed to Walmart.  Spent over $200, but I think I got everything I need for a couple of weeks.  Soon, it is going to be laundry day and that's another chore I don't like doing.

I took a hike with Yuma to get the remaining steps I needed for the day and we had our happy hour around 3:30 and then home for Gold Rush and dinner for Yuma and me.  Unfortunately, GR was a rerun so I saved batteries and turned it off.

Oh yes, the credit card fiasco.  When I went to Mexico last week, I thought I would be smart and leave my credit cards in the WL for safe keeping.  I put them in  someplace safe, but not in my safe as I should have.  

So, a whole week goes by, and I never needed them till yesterday and they were not in my wallet.  I looked around early before leaving for Wellton and looked everywhere last night, but no credit cards.  Now, I'm worried because I have no way of getting more money once I've spend my cash.

I gave up looking and went over to our morning coffee get together.  Afterward, Deb and Riley volunteered to stop over and help for a half hour until they were leaving to go to Walmart.  Riley stopped at their place for a moment and Deb came over and started looking.

It wasn't two minutes, before Deb said, "Is this them?"  Boy did I feel like a double fool.  One for losing them and two for Deb to find them so quickly.  They were behind the TV on the table in plain sight.  Getting old and forgetful is a real bummer!

Thanks for stopping by.

A visit with friends

 This morning, I again had to set the alarm for 7:30 and poor Yuma was sure he was staying home again while Dad went out for the day.  I assured him he was going too and he was happy.

Today, we are going for a day visit to Jerry and Elva Shannon's place in Wellton, Arizona.  Wellton is located about 25 miles east of Yuma over the Fortuna Mountains, about an hour drive away.

Tom, Jerry, Deb, Elva and Deb

We arrived around 10:15 and sat around to catch up on recent events in our lives and enjoy the weather.  It was up to 71 in the afternoon, so with no wind it was a beautiful day to be outside.

Jerry has all the desert toys.  Because the Can Am was only a two seater, we all jumped in to two Jeeps, mine and Jerry's to take a tour of the mountains and deserts in the Dome Valley.  Jerry is quite experienced with the back roads around here so no chance of getting lost.

The first stop was to the Naked Date.  It is a food stop in the desert south of Wellton.  We had shakes and I had a BLT with chips.  Yummy!

Been here awhile.

We went north toward the Barry Goldwater military training grounds and to get there we had to go under I-8.  Not built for trucks.

Most of the desert roads were passable by 2 wheel drive if you didn't mind getting your vehicle side swiped by creosote bushes.  Jerry would let me know when I needed to go into 4 wheel drive to make it through areas of deep sand.

We went around those mountains.

Military made for the troops to have cookouts, I'm guessing.

Dolphin or shark?

Just west of the cookout building, there was a huge wash that at times must have powerful water raging through it.  At one point, the rocks would only give to the water in small amounts causing these deep ravines.

Those holding water are known as Tanks.

Near the end of our ride, we stopped at four WWII tanks in rough shape.  Jerry believes these are used for laser training by jets flying over.

What is that in the tank turret?  I didn't notice it till I downloaded and enlarged the picture.

It was near 4 o'clock by the time we arrived back at Jerry's place where we sat around and talked for just a bit before it was time to head home.  We had a great time!  Thank you Jerry and Elva for giving us your time and company.

I made it home before dark, had a little dinner and I'm now watching Thursday Night Football.  A long and fun day.

Thanks for stopping by.