Dec. 29, 2012 Back in Quartzsite, AZ, again.

Time seems to have gotten away from us. We have been here two weeks as of today.  It feels like we just parked here last week.  We at La Posa North, the Long-term BLM parking just south of Quartzsite, AZ.  We paid $180 for the annual permit which allows us to park on the BLM land from Sept. 15th to April 15th.  I enjoy figuring out what the daily cost is for us.  Tonight our cost will be $12.  In four days, we will be down to just $10 a day and going lower each night.

The RV on the left is Doris and Clyde Scoval from Iowa.  They missed last year due to a family emergency.  Fred and Arlene Cray should be on the right side of our camper, but snow has kept them from leaving Alturas, CA.  They hope to start south tomorrow, if Hwy 299 to Redding, CA, is clear.  Notice all the open space around our RVs.  That won’t last; the desert around us will be full of RVs in about two to three weeks when the big RV Tent show opens.

While some of us rough it here in the dry desert, some folks bring all the comforts of home with them.  Clyde brings his pressure washer to keep his car and RV looking spiffy.  He connects the hose to his outside shower spigot and runs his generator for power.  Isn’t he clever?  (And clean!!)

Between the two solar panels on the roof (Thanks, Don) and the small generator, we have enough electricity to cover our basic electrical needs.  The water and sewer needs are taken care of every 6 days down the highway at the BLM sewer dump and water station—a perk of paying the BLM fee.

We spotted this RV at the library last Saturday.  At first I thought it had been a garbage truck in its previous life, but it was built as an RV—a German RV.

There are windows behind the metal plates with little holes.  It is built stout and for some serious off-roading adventures.

I think I will keep our friendly-looking camper, smile.

We come for the drier weather, clean air and beautiful sunsets.  I can’t capture the correct amount of  color with my camera, (color all the clouds bright pink)  but this is what we see almost every night.  We had a very quiet Christmas and are looking forward to a quiet New Year’s Eve. And then 2013 will be with us—bringing more new adventures as we travel in the Shoe Box! 

The Jennings wish you a fun-filled and healthy New Year!

Dec. 14, 2012 The Jennings are on the move again.

We left Livingston last Saturday.  Our plans were to head west on Sunday, but the approaching storm upped our schedule by a day.  And of course, the weather man heard we were leaving to beat the rain in Houston, so he moved up the rain by a day too.

Sorry, no photos today as my “soon to be deceased” computer has decided it no long wants to recognize my camera storage card.  Apparently when Larry worked it over for several reasons last Friday, it found a way to retaliate!  It stopped accepting any signal from the card reader.  Soon, very soon, I may start refusing to feed it any electricity—and then see if it is a good Frisbee!  GRRRR!

We spent the first night at the Texas Rest Area between Luling, TX, and Sequin, TX.  It was a HOT and humid night.  (Should have just stopped at RiverBend RV Park like last June.)

We took a new route around San Antonio, TX by using Highway 46; it was a hint given to us by Tommie Sue and Harrell Hicks.  It was an easy run because it was early Sunday morning and lots of fog and mist to keep people home.  We didn’t stop to see the Spring Branch friends as we wanted to get further west because of the weather.  To spend the money we saved on Saturday night, we stopped in North Llano River RV Park ($33) in Junction, TX, as the cold front was supposed to catch up with us that night.  It did—with LOTS of strong winds during the night.  The temperature at dinner hour was 80 degrees and had dropped to 28 degrees when we got up Monday morning.

We continued pushing west to Fort Stockton, TX.  We stayed at a different park this trip because we just needed electricity.  The Comanche RV Park worked out fine, even had free WIFI and cable for $16. 

By Tuesday, Larry was feeling better and we were able to share the driving to El Paso, TX, and then on to Deming, NM in one day.  We spent two nights at the Escapees’ Dream Catcher RV Park so we could visit with Jim and Penny Scott and do some Wal-mart shopping.  I enriched the Deming economy!

We didn’t have firm plans for Thursday night, so we kept driving hoping to make Casa Grande, AZ, to see Mary & Jerry Frye and return some lost items they left with us in October.  We knew a big storm was headed our way—again—and had alternative plans just in case we got tired.  Things were going very well—until we crested Texas Canyon, the big pass just east of Benson, AZ.

Suddenly, instead of a tail wind pushing us, we hit a southerly wind that was hitting us broadside and was picking up dust as it headed north—across the freeway.  It wasn’t too bad, some tight-fingered driving, until we got just outside of Tucson, AZ.  Suddenly there was a lot of blowing dust coming across the freeway.  Larry even called Jerry to see how the conditions were in Casa Grande to see if we should just stop and wait it out until the rain came that evening.  He said Casa Grande weather was beautiful.  Well, Tucson was NOT beautiful!  We kept an eye up ahead with plans to pull off the road if the cars started disappearing into a dust storm.  We hit one spot where it did—but as we entered the solid dust line, we could see out the other side.  That one was close!!

We are now parked at the Fiesta Grande Encore Park in Casa Grande.  It rained on and off most of the night—which means the dirt is out of the air.  We are headed to Quartzsite, AZ, tomorrow; we have about 200 miles to go—a day’s drive.  This is a beautiful destination park with lots and lots of activities and events going on.  Wish we wanted to stay for the winter here, but we have friends to see in Quartzsite.

We are making a early morning visit to the NextCare Urgent Clinic this morning to have Larry’s arm injury looked at by a doctor. He took a tumble last night on a walkway and scraped back too much skin for my limited first aid skills.  We visited a NextCare Urgent Clinic here in Casa Grande about two years ago to have his lab work done and we were very impressed with their service.  Thankfully, they take Medicare insurance!!  Big blessings that Medicare insurance!!  I hate to see the proposed changes to Medicare as it sure is a life saver for us when we travel!  But that would be another posting just to explain my position on Medicare, smile.

Happy Holidays—and if I don’t get back to post in the next 11 days, Merry Christmas.  Please remember the reason for the season—and it isn’t to buy presents that won’t be remembered by the recipients by next Christmas.  Give  Love, Peace and Joy—and even a helping hand to those you love—it doesn’t cost money and is remembered for life!

Dec. 3. 2012 Finishing up Texas projects……

We are in the count-down to leaving Texas.  I have one more kiln firing to do later this week to glaze some bowls that I bisque-fired on Saturday.  The car is packed for the trip and the camper just needs our medicines, food, and computers—and it will be packed.

Larry had his fun on Saturday:

Notice the dirt screen behind him?

Guess who got to wash his clothes and shoes?  He had a layer of dirt covering him!

Meanwhile, I was playing too—firing the kiln:

Unfortunately about five days ago, some one, some place, slipped me some cold virus germs.  I spent Sunday laying on the couch instead of unloading the kiln. I still feel it trying to attack, so I have cancelled plans to go to the Livingston Art League’s monthly meeting as I don’t want to infect anyone else.  I sure wish someone had been as considerate about five days ago and had stayed home with their cold!!  I worry about Larry fighting it off and both of us being sick instead of driving west!

The weather has been crazy!  I run the air conditioner at night—to get the house back down to at least 72 degrees—and then  change it over to heat in the morning—when it is 42 degrees outside.  The temperatures have varied over 40 degrees difference from morning to afternoon!  The leaves are falling—and falling—and falling, while some trees are still green?

The weather can’t decide what it wants for Fall—cool or warm. 

In addition to playing with clay, I like to smoosssh bread dough around.  Larry is always giving me a hard time about how many Panasonic bread makers I own—five or six.  However, he loves it when I drag out both the big 2 lb. bread makers and make dough.

Because he absolutely loves this kind of bread the most:

These mini loaves are as close to heaven as he can get while still breathing!  I make there around the end-of the-year holidays for gifts and to make my favorite guy happy.

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving dinner with just the two of us:

His sodium-restricted diet actually allows for a bit of ham, so we cooked that instead of a turkey.  However, we had all the other trimmings.  And it was worth all the work to see his smile:

Because when I count my blessing, this guy is at the top of my list! 

I hope you were with your favorite blessings on Thanksgiving.  And as we get ready to head back to Quartzsite, AZ, for a few months of warmer and drier weather,  we look toward to happier and healthier times in 2013. 

The old Chinese proverb of ”May you live in interesting times” was used to wish someone some “less-than Happy” New Year wishes.  These days, listening to TV and radio stories, it sounds like we are living in “interesting times.”

So, I am amending the proverb to:  May you thrive in interesting times—and have thousands of blessing to be thankful for next year.

Nov. 17, 2012 Lessons Learned—the hard way, of course.

Well, I started the month out doing great.  As I had finally caught up on some household chores, I decided we needed to go into the BIG city of Houston to buy clay and glazes.
I ordered 200 pounds of clay which comes in four 50-pound boxes.  The two young ladies loaded it into the car—with 100 pounds on each side of the back seat of the Honda.  Easy, right?  Easy turned into a lot of pain—after I moved the clay from the car into my shop.
 
Those four boxes weighing down the shelf contain two of the blocks of clay on the right side.  Note to Self:  Do NOT move the boxes next time, move the clay one 25-pound slug at a time!  I have a hand truck to transport the clay, however, the clay does not help itself from the back seat or floor to the hand truck—my arms and back do it.
The hand truck won’t climb up the 12 inches to the shop porch, over the sill and up on to the wire rack.  Ouch!  My favorite word for about a week.
Next lesson was firing the kiln.  I tried something new by using the “preheat” setting for 20 minutes.  Something was wrong in my figures as 2 hours into the firing, it was at 140 degrees instead of the normal 600 to 700 degrees.  Note to self—stick with what works!
I aborted the firing and started the kiln with the settings I usually use.  It was a perfect firing! 

As I often fire at night, I need the back porch light to illuminate the porch when I go out to check the kiln.  Of course, it went out just about the time I had to fire the kiln!
We bought a new light and then had to figure out how to install it.

It is about 7 feet high which requires a ladder.  Unfortunately, Larry’s not good on ladders these days—and his finger tips lack feeling.  And unfortunately, finger tips are needed to put the wires together as well as strong legs to stand on the ladder for 20 minutes.  So, guess who learned how to change out a light?  Note to self:  Forget what you just learned!  Ignorance is bliss in hiring a handyman!  Because, once we got it all back together, it failed to light.  Up ladder again, reverse process and fix the white wire that came apart—reverse that process and put back together and exit down the ladder.  It does work now!  Don’t breathe hard around our back door!
The next lesson was a good one!  My friend Dianne suggested I enter some of my pottery in the Livingston Art League’s annual show on the 10th.  She also offered to print any photo I thought was exceptional to enter it in the photography division.  She is a talented photographer and has won awards for her beautiful photos.
I wasn’t sure about it, but decided to enter two bowls and my Luckenbach, TX, photo.  She talked me into entering a free-form bowl I made a few years ago.

It won third place against some really, really great photographs!
 
Angel Wings won second place and Brown Eyes Blue won a honorable mention as well as the free-form Hard Road.


Note to self and all my readers:  Take more risks with your artistic side!!  I did not feel my “stuff” was worthy of being entered in an art show and obviously, with four ribbons, it was!  Reach out and explore your creative side—you will be pleasantly surprised.
Life is interesting.  Each stage of our lives brings challenges and rewards—to help blunt the pain of growing ‘more experienced.”
Happy Thanksgiving.  Take a moment this week to start counting all your blessings and, if you are like me, you may run out of time and numbers long before you exhaust your list of blessings.

October 27, 2012 -- A short Update

Wow, the month has slipped away while we were busy!  I have been so preoccupied with all the things going on, that I forgot to take any photos!

We arrived and quickly discovered a water leak in the laundry room.  The plumber went through the outside wall rather than move the hot water heater, so that made it easy for him.  And then we had to hire J & J Construction, who built this house in the early 1990s and built the new RV port last spring, to come fix the back wall of the house.

While they were here, I had them go ahead and fix the back wall and roof of Larry’s golf cart barn…and then some minor repairs to the house roof.  Hey, the savings account is only money—might as well spend it!  Johnny and his crew also removed the front porch railings that were rotting from the humidity—living in the South is so much fun.

The little square box under the faucet bib is an access panel just in case we need more plumbing work done in the future.  J & J replaced the bad sections of siding with Hardy planks.  We are working our way around the house, slowly!

(The yellow boards are awaiting painting.  First I have to paint the rain board—dividing the two areas—white.  Which I got done today.  Next I have to paint the boards the same beige-pink.  Always something needing work!)

Just after the work was done, we were blessed to have Jerry and Mary Frye come with their trailer for a short visit.  They were headed west after spending time in the East, including Washington, D.C.

The Fryes and Jennings managed to get in a dinner at famous Florida’s Restaurant. They serve the BEST ribs in Texas, smile.  Sorry, so busy eating, I forgot to take any photos, but we did order extra so we can have Florida’s ribs on our trip west to Quartzsite.  It gives us something to look forward to on the long drive, smile!

Next, we were further blessed to have John and Linda Acarregui stop by for a few days to attend TexFest, Rainbow’s Ends’ answer to Oktoberfest this year.

Cathie Carr planned and organized a Texas-sized celebration.  A  lot of the local park residents jumped in and volunteered resulting in a great event!  As part of the celebration, we have an annual Bake Sale Auction to raise funds for the Livingston Fire Department.  The sale raised $8,500 this year brining the total donated by Rainbow’s End to over $100.000!

We enjoyed John & Linda’s company and I fell in love with their new family member—Rascal.  Yes, I took a photo of him!  Guess that shows my priorities???

Isn’t he just the cutest little thing?  He is as inquisitive as a cat with 109 lives—and very loveable.  I am sure he keeps John and Linda on their toes—staying one step ahead of him. (He heritage is called Morkie—a winning combination of a Maltese and Yorkie.) 

So, now that TexFest is over and our company has left us, I am back to trying to finish up the house repair work (will paint the new boards beige this week) and fire the kiln later coming week.  I have thrown 12 bowls that are now ready to fire.

And, of course, I have to finish waxing the camper before we head west.  We are going to try to do a few fun things in November and I will take photos!

Larry & I wish you a very Happy Halloween—hope yours is filled with lots of good sweets treats!

October 1, 2012 -- Back in Livingston—Why????

Well, we did it—made the trip between Antioch, CA, and Livingston, TX, in only 9 days.  We got a head start for the first two days, so we were able to travel less than 150 miles a day for several days and then made the rest up on Wednesday—when we came in doing about 260 miles.  It was a long, long day.

We decided on the I-40 route because it was cooler up there—being 102 degrees at the turn off to Lake Havasu City and only 95 degrees in Kingman, AZ.  Once we made the decision to stay high, the weather was delightful.  I wondered several mornings, why are we leaving this cool, comfortable weather??

From Enchanted Trails RV Park outside Albuquerque, NM, (see our visit in July ….) we traveled through the big city without even slowing down (it was 10 am on Sunday morning :)) to Santa Rosa, NM, where we dropped down toward Ft. Summer and then over to Clovis, NM. 

We called in a reservation at the only Good Sam park in town, Traveler’s World Campground for a full hook-up site, but had to settle for just water and electric for $21.  For the first time since we left Tracy, we dropped the car off the tow bar and drove into little Clovis to get a bite to eat and visit Wal-Mart. 

We ended up having a delicious Sunday dinner at Applebee's courtesy of my sister Karen.  We hadn’t had a chance to use the thoughtful gift certificate she gave Larry in March.  Larry said his steak was very tender and tasty.  And the onion ring were to die for!  That was a nice birthday gift.  Thank you, Karen.

 

We stopped at the Sweetwater, TX, Elks’ Club the next night ($10)and then at Cowtown RV Park in Aledo, TX, just outside of Fort Worth, TX.  Normally we would have avoided Cowtown as being past our budget—but they are now a Passport America park!  Yippee!  Only $16.25 for full hook-ups.   As I was sitting there at the picnic table, I realized:  The most expensive rates aren’t always the best parks and the worst parks aren’t the cheapest.  It has been an interesting summer.

Being able to use Cowtown, put us in position to pass through Ft. Worth just after commute hours and get a head start on trying to make Livingston that day, if the wind didn’t blow like Tuesday.

The fun part of the next day was catching up with the Dudleys on their way home from Sasche, TX, the same morning.  Usually Howdy is up and on the road before Larry turns over at 6 am.  Cell phones are fun because it allows RVers to check in with friends—and in this case, discover the Howdy and Leslie were behind us about 10-15 min. by Corsicana, TX.  We stopped at the next Rest Area and they caught up with us.  We exchanged hugs and then they were off to Livingston with us following way behind at our sedate 55 mph.  What fun!

We arrived about 2:30 and started unloading.  At 4 pm., we discovered a leak in the back wall with water on the laundry room floor. Darn and double darn.  This is the third leak in the bathroom area of the house in one year!  The normally faithful plumber stood us up the next day and we had to call another plumber who couldn’t come until Friday.  So, the house was without water Wednesday and Thursday nights—so no laundry or cleaning. Darn and double darn!

My big project this trip is to try to have the roofs replaced. Now we had to address the hole in the back side siding which leads to replacing some siding and getting that wall painted too.  It is like pulling that thread in a sweater and watching the sleeve fall off.  The project list just grows and grows!  Ugh!

As of this afternoon, the camper is unloaded and clean inside, the car is washed, and we are settling into the house with lots of space around us.  The funny part is the house isn’t moving like in the camper does, but the house bed mattress moves too much!  The camper mattress is on a firm surface and the house bed is on a box spring.  When Larry moves in his sleep, the whole bed shakes. Whoa!  Good thing RVers are adaptable.

I still have a bit of yard work to get done and the outside of the camper washed and waxed.  Then, only then—I can play with clay again! 

Sept. 21, 2012 Made it to Gallup, NM, in just 4 days

Yes, we drove from Tracy, CA, to Gallup in ONLY four days.  Must be a speed record…for a turtle!  We have decided to slow down and enjoy our days on the road.  Some how, over the past 10 years, we got into the zippy-travel mode.  You know, driving 300 miles or more a day just because we could.  It takes a toll on our bodies getting up and on the road by 8 am., and takes a toll on our monthly budget.

We travel at 55 m.p.h. to save fuel, and we stop at most rest stops for potty breaks and a quick walk around the rig.  And of course, we stop for lunch, so the day strings out to 7 or 8 hours on the road.

By dropping the daily mileage to a maximum of 200 miles, we have time at the end of the travel day to relax, play on the computer, do a load of laundry, or just sit outside and enjoy the scenery.  Today we did a long, long day of 138 miles.  Tomorrow will be about 150 miles.  This will get us back to Livingston, TX about the time the month ends.

I am going to throw in some photos of places we have been since we left Salem, OR.  First was our favorite rest area on I-5 in California at the Klamath River rest area:

Isn’t it beautiful?  We try to dry camp here when it isn’t too hot.  It was actually so cool that morning in Salem, I had to get out the electric heater for Larry.  My big question was, now that the weather is finally nice, why are we leaving?

The rest area fills up during the night, but we had our pick of “campsites” in the shade.

We stopped in Dunnigan, CA at an Escapees discount park.  The place is not set up for RVs towing vehicles.  The hook-ups are just as you enter the site—which places them at about the rear wheel of the tow car—too far from the RV.  In order to have full hook-ups, we would have to turn the car loose and park it in front.  We didn’t want to do that!  We found this site with electric and sewer in the middle—however, there was only a minor trickle of water from the faucet.  In 105 degree heat, it would be worth the $19 fee—but anything less would be questionable.  The restroom rated less than one star!

The next morning we were treated to the green rice fields just north of Sacramento.  I have started buying Cal Rose rice from CA as it is good.

Traveling though Sacramento, CA, on I-5 was a breeze.  However, Highway 12 going to Antioch was closed due to a bad wreck.  We took fuel at Flying J at the exit and headed down to Stockton, CA. Diesel was about $4.50 a gallon there and went as high as $4.65 in Barstow, CA.

We decided to just head to the Tracy Elks’ Club and drive the car the 30 miles back to Antioch for the lab work and see my dad and sister.  The Elks’ Club has a very nice RV park for $20 a night.

One of the questions often asked is how do you know when you have been in a spot too long.  This is one sign:

This was the rig next too us.  Not only had the spider had time to spin an elaborate web, he had time to grow really big!  I saw his legs sticking out of the chrome.  Icky!!

We left Tuesday morning and drove to Mojave, CA to spend the night at Sierra Trails RV Park for just $13.25.  It was too hot to dry-camp at Barstow’s Flying J.  I often relate to the quality of an RV park by the rest rooms.  This one had outstanding restrooms; not fancy but very clean!  It deserves 4.5 stars!

And a beautiful pool. 

The pull-thru area is in the back.  Very quiet and peaceful; especially since the cell reception is very iffy.   We really enjoyed the electricity!

Next stop was Blake Ranch RV Park in Kingman, AZ.  It is a really splendid RV park.  For us short RVs, it was just $21 with the Escapees 15% discount for a full hook-up.  They have a large laundry room and a well-stocked store.

We spent last night at Meteor Crater RV Park about 20 miles east of Flagstaff, AZ.  While at the top of our park budget, the improvements made since our last visit made it worth $29.  I failed to take photos, darn.  We had visited the crater on our last visit.  It is worth the effort to see it at least once!  It was cool there this morning—again, we leave areas as the weather becomes more comfortable.  Something is seriously wrong with our reasoning!

Tonight we are at the USA RV Park in Gallup, NM.  Haven’t taken photos yet, but this is another “full-service” campground with first class facilities!  They even have an evening BBQ where you can buy your dinner.  It is at the top of our price range too, but we are staying at Enchanted Trails outside of Albuquerque, NM, tomorrow night with the Passport America discount to make it up.

Larry wanted to change our route, so instead of dropping down to El Paso, TX, he wants to travel to Santa Rosa, NM, and take the Clovis cut-off down to I-20.  We will make the final decision tomorrow at Albuquerque.  Stay tuned for the slow-moving Jennings trip to Livingston.  I figure we have at least five more nights to get 1,000 miles. Well, maybe 6 nights????

Sept. 9, 2012 -- Joining the migrating herd moving south….

It’s official; the annual migration south has started!  And we are joining in, not because we seek warmer weather, but because we have to check in with Larry’s doctor next week.  We have loved our time here in Salem, OR.
We have decided this Elks’ Club RV park is the best place to spend time—we are just down the street from Wal-Mart, Costco, the Post Office, Winco, a laundromat, Great Harvest Bread Company, and the wonderful Salem Saturday Market. 
I have taken lots of photos of things we enjoy.  This one made our days easier—close by, clean and no kids!!  A real winner!


This is RV reality.  We visited this place almost every four days to keep up with the dirty clothes.  We are either the cleanest—or dirtiest RVers.  Our next RV, if there is one, will have a washer/dryer!  I am not budging on that requirement.  Some laundromats are just creepy!
Visiting the weekly Saturday Salem Farmers’ Market was a bright spot in our week.  Well-behaved dogs are welcome—and there was a mighty collection each week.  I loved this guy; do you think he would like living in the camper with us?

This one was cute too.  He knew where the goodies were located.

The food booths represented a quick trip around the world and a big hit with market goers.  Larry and I just drooled, but couldn’t enjoy because the sodium levels of the offerings were off the charts!


My favorite booths are craft booths.  Does your hand itch to grab your wallet and come shopping?

Pottery, of course, and I had to have one of these beautiful wind chimes—a gift to Carol, from Carol.  Besides being beautiful, the tinklely sounds will remind me of our lazy, fun days in Salem, OR.
 
A close-up of the chimes.  Aren’t the colors inviting?


So many choices, so little room in the camper!  Too many talented crafters in the Salem area.  Not fair!!
Now, could you walk past this booth and not buy some of the delicious Oregon berries?

We ate our fill of berries!  Time to go before we start sprouting berry bushes and vines from our bodies!
I mean, could you pass this up?  It was as good as it looks! 
I have so many other photos to share…but will close with  one of the OR National Guard pilots practicing doing basket pick-ups across the street from the Elks’ Club.

We plan to be in Antioch, CA, by Friday so Larry can do his labs and a chest X-ray before heading for Texas for October and November.  We have a bit more work to finish up working on the house for this year.  
This summer has been a real hot hoot!  Welcome Fall, we have been waiting for you!