Return to Tucson

After a driving trip to Sacramento for Christmas, we arrived back in Tucson just a few hours ahead of one heck of a storm.  We rocked and rolled all night long.  When John got up at 5 a.m. this morning, the outside temperature was 50 and it went down to 39 before going back up to the day's high of 48.  Thankfully, our furnace was repaired this morning as we are suppose to see the mid-20's as a low tonight. Brrr.  When we left on the 20th for Sacramento, the day temperatures were in the upper 70's; we hope they get close to that again real soon.

Our visit to Sacramento was very busy what with doctor and dentist visits and then the holiday.  We had a great time spending time with Melissa, family and friends.  We left Sacramento on Monday the 27th and we were met with the expected fog this time of year.  From Natomas (suburb of Sacramento) past Stockton, we drove in dense valley fog.

Thankfully, the fog dissipated after Stockton and all we had to do was deal with the traffic on I-5.  We have never driven this Interstate when there was so much traffic.  I guess everyone had the same thoughts of us about not leaving on Sunday.  We spent the night in Lancaster so that I could visit with my sister, Jan, as we hadn't seen her for a couple of years now.  It was nice getting caught up and just seeing my big sister.

Upon leaving Lancaster, we drove through the mountains that had the remnants left of the storm we drove through on the 20th.  The snow made for a very nice picture.

We had originally planned to stop at Joshua Tree National Park on Tuesday but between traffic and the distance involved, we changed our minds and decided to just head for Yuma.  Our drive afforded us the view of the Salton Sea (which goes on for miles).  We pulled off the road to an area we thought would give us a good shot but the area looked like an apocalypse had struck it - burnt out homes, vehicles, abandoned lots.   The area was very depressing and had definitely seen better days. It gave us a very weird feeling compounded by seeing a lot of people dressed up in paramilitary outfits outfitted with paintball guns (we didn't realize that at first!).

We got in to Yuma around 3 p.m. our time (4 p.m. Arizona time - - right, we lost an hour) and checked in to the motel.  We decided to go check out an RV park that recently opened which was very nice but out of our price range especially for the months of January through March.  We then decided to go to dinner and based on a review I read on TripAdvisor.com, we chose Ciao Bella.  Not a problem, we will just type in the address on the GPS and away we go.  It wasn't that easy.  Seems the GPS didn't recognize the address so I called the restaurant and we were guided in by Eric who was fabulous with his instructions.  Now, one of the problems was that we didn't know where the heck we were and he kept asking us questions that we had no way of knowing how to answer.  After a few minutes and a wrong turn or two, Eric  had guided us in and was standing outside giving us instructions by phone until he waved us in.  What service!  I told him on the phone that the food better be worth it lol.  He told me it would be and he was right; John and I both enjoyed our selections and the ambiance of the restaurant.

As we headed out on our final leg back to Tucson Wednesday morning, we were treated to a beautiful Yuma sunrise.

After the beauty of the sunrise to a mileage robbing headwind, we finally made it home.  There is no place like home no matter where you park it.

As this most likely will be my last post for 2010, John and I wish you and yours a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011.

Greetings

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

First rain since arriving

We have been here in Tucson since November 1 and just today received some rain.  Up to today, we have been enjoying beautiful weather in the low 80's.  Having seen all the bad weather across the nation, we have felt blessed to be here.  Shorts and sandals in December is mighty fine!  The downside to this beautiful weather is that it makes it hard to believe that Christmas is less than ten days from now.  Our psyche's are geared for cold, damp, foggy weather not this beautiful sunshine we've had.  Rudy, the mascot here at Justin's Diamond J even got into the holiday spirit.  

With the day a bit gloomy, I wrapped Christmas gifts and even indulged in a bit of Christmas music . . . so it's beginning to feel a lot more like Christmas.  

An occasional trip to town and a lot of doing nothing has been what we've been up to.  Once a week, we have been going to the local Indian Casino for their Tuesday night buffet - $8.30 a couple (drinks included).  At that price, who can afford to cook or why would you want to especially when the food is decent?  At night, we have been playing cards or Pegs and Jokers with Rick and Y.  That nightly ritual has been put on hold as they headed off to the Austin area yesterday to spend the holiday with their dear ones.  We were going to surprise them with a Road Trip Survival Kit we made up by leaving it on their Jeep early in the morning for them to discover when they headed out.  They had told us they would be leaving around 7 a.m. so we figured around 6 a.m. would be a good time to get the deed done. Well, the surprise came back to us as John went out at 6:05 a.m. to put the bag on their car and they were GONE!  They left at 6 a.m.  Shoot . . . so much for trying to be stealthy lol.  Soon, we will be on our own road trip when we head to Sacramento to spend the holiday with Melissa.  Must admit that we are starting to get antsy about hitting the road ourselves.

We won't be having a beautiful sunset tonight, so I thought I would share a couple of pictures of some of the majestic sunsets we are gifted with here in the desert.  Pictures just can't do the sunsets justice.  Enjoy!

 

Another month gone

Where or where did November go?  We've done a lot of enjoying the warm sunshine and watching the antics of the birds around our bird feeders.  We have learned one downside to drawing the birds in and that is that it also draws in birds of prey.  A Peregrine Falcon nailed a Gamble's Quail right behind the Palo Verde Tree right behind our site while we were out talking with neighbors.  We see him/her cruise the area almost daily. We now call the bird feeders the Falcon Smorgasbord. 

Mid-month we saw our friends, Rick and Y Dyer, arrive.  Good conversation, laughter, and card games take place almost nightly.  We helped Y celebrate her birthday as she is slowly catching up with me.

We flew out Thanksgiving morning to Sacramento.  We had no issues to report with the new TSA procedures and amazingly, our flights were all on time.  Melissa picked us up at the airport and we headed directly to Bonnie and Butch's house (John's sister and brother-in-law) for the feast.  As usual, Bonnie outdid herself.  Here is a picture of the whole gang of family and friends.

We have a new baby in the family after a 10 year dry spell and needless to say, Emma is very popular.  Here is a picture of Melissa with Emma in the darling outfit Melissa picked out special for her.

Finally, after dishes were done, I was finally able to have a little special time with Emma myself.  She was so relaxed stretched out on my lap that she fell asleep for about an hour.  What a sweet little thing she is.  

When night time came, our batteries had pretty much ran out as we had been up since 2:30 a.m. Alas, another confirmation that we aren't as young as we once were.  What a great day with family and friends and all were  reminded as to how many things we have to be thankful for.  We hope your Thanksgiving was equally wonderful.

We did not partake in any Black Friday shopping but did Christmas Tree shopping with Melissa instead.  As this is her first holiday in her condo, she wanted a real tree.   After a few stops, we found the right tree and took it back to decorate.  I got snookered into putting the lights on and then Melissa finished up making the tree very festive looking.

We had a nice time in Sacrament but it is was so nice to get home.  The weather in Sacramento was in the low 50's so it was especially delightful to have 80 degree weather today.

We had asked Rick and Y to keep an eye on our place while we were gone.  Rick told us he was going to put a For Sale on the rig to see how much he could get for it lol.  We got a call from Rick on Monday saying that there appeared to be a problem with our furnace as it wouldn't come on without tripping out.   Rick and John tried to trouble shoot it but to no avail.  Found out today that the bearings in the motor burned up and we need a new motor which will take a week or so to get.  Thank goodness for electric heaters as it was 47 degrees in the rig this morning brr.