Tuesday, January 10, 2012

This morning we drove into town for the day to take one last look at the junk stores. Carol bought a new hat and I found a decent belt for $17. After that we went grocery shopping and did a load of laundry. While the laundry was being done, we got take-out from a nearby restaurant. We both had a very good taco salad. Then we dumped the tanks and filled up with water.
Judy, the lady with the five dogs, joined us for the 4 o’clock social hour. She told us about the difficulties she has with some RV parks not wanting five dogs. We’re dog lovers, and at one time, traveled with three of them, but can certainly see the point of view of the RV parks. The record number of dogs per site we can recall was nine. It was at a TX state park a few years ago. The people showed dogs professionally and traveled in a large travel trailer.

Wednesday

Didn’t do much today. Everyone else went into town to take care of chores like we did yesterday. Our job was to hold down the fort. Chuck and Beverley drove to Mexico today to pick up some meds. They brought back a very colorful piñata which will be the centerpiece of an upcoming piñata party.

We got an e-mail from Carols sister Mary, confirming the Wagner family reunion in July so that fixes our general summer travel plans. The reunion is being held in the Mystic, CT area where the majority of Carol’s eight siblings, and their families, live.
Now we’re talking about where to spend May through September. Neither of us like the summer crowds typical of the New England coast, we’ve been through VT, MA, NH, NY, PA, etc., a number of times and have no big interest in exploring those areas again, so we’ll see. Maybe Maine and the Maritime Provinces of Canada again? If so, this time we’re going to add Newfoundland and Labrador to the agenda. We were in the Maritimes in 2007 and very much enjoyed the trip.


Thursday

A grey, chilly and overcast day. Most nights it’s been getting into the low 40’s but warming up nicely by noon. Not today. I don't think it hit 60*
We’ve been running the Wave 3 heater all night. It tends to keep the interior temperature about 20* above the outside temperature if run on the high setting. In the morning we’ve been waking up to a temp. of about 62*; not bad as long as you’re bundled up.
Roger and John made a Wal-Mart run into Parker today. There are lots of common food items that just are not available in Q. Linda and I took the dogs for a walk to the nice fresh fruit & veggie stand in town just across from the post office. 4.5 miles roundtrip per the GPS. Picked up some more summer squash, broccoli, pears and peanuts.
Nancy from SoCal pulled in today. Several more rigs are expected this weekend.

An overview of the area.

Wandering around here & there

The last few days Carol & I spent time just wandering around here & there. Through the mile after mile of assorted stuff, dozens of food stands, on & on. From everything-for-a-dollar joints to vendors selling quality jewelery.
Carol found a beautiful pair of gold earrings that are a perfect match for the ring she bought at the art show in Tubec,AZ last year. I got a brand new plastic "T" handle that replaces the broken one on the black tank dump valve pull and a flashlight. Mind you, this is not an officially sanctioned by Andy Lazy Daze flashlight. Then again, it only cost $3. Batteries included. We both went home happy with our purchases,

an endless supply of stuff.

A rather unique RV. From British Columbia.

Getting ready to raise the Big Tent.


Roger heard from a number of others who are headed this way. By Saturday, there should be six to eight more rigs. Last night we had a cookout. Everyone grilled their own entree. Linda made potato salad, we supplied a pot of chili and Ann made an amazing, from-scratch lemon cake. A pot luck supper is scheduled for Thursday.

Our RV friend Jim is here. We met Jim at Crater Lake in 2008. Jim's not an early riser. Yesterday, about noon time, we were going to send Ann, who is an RN, into Jim's rig to check his vital signs to make sure he was still with us. :-)
Shortly after that, Jim came wandering out. He said he was awake but working on a project. No one believed that.

We did a little grocery shopping on Sunday. A 1/2 gallon of milk was $4.38. $3.50 for a loaf of multi-grain bread. $7.50 for a 12 pack of TP. The merchants have a short season around here. I suspect they make half, or more, of their annual income in January and February. When we were in Maine a few years back, one of the locals we met was upset with the town grocery store because they really jacked up their prices in the summer. Soak the tourists.

Linda showed Carol a new game for Smart Phones/iPads, etc. It's called Words-With-Friends. Essentially, it's an on-line scrabble game.

Today Gopher and I walked into town together just to poke around. When the RV show starts, we're going to move to the Rice Ranch for a night. Rice Ranch is located just across the street from the Big Tent. They have a large open lot, where for $7 you can stay overnight. That way, Carol will have easy access to the sidewalks so she can go anywhere she wants. We discovered that last year.

We're enjoying ourselves. It's nice to not have to drive so often and to have the company of so many nice people. Everyone that's here, we've met somewhere in our travels.
We'll be here until we head to Tucson in February to meet up with John & Marge.