A Busy Weekend

We spent the weekend helping Jeni get ready for her move. On Friday Linda boxed and boxed. On Saturday she had another garage sale, and then John took the leftovers to the Goodwill. Jeni can barely get her car in the garage with all of the boxes.

On Saturdays in Pendleton there's a farmer's market with local produce, baked items, flowers, and home made crafts. We were late getting there this week so a lot of the booths were gone, but John was still able to get some cookies.

The market is located on the "square" where there's a building dating back to 1880. It was the city hall, but it's to small for that (government has a way of growing over the years), so now it's a restaurant.

There's some good stores and restaurants around the square, including antiques, handmade items, coffee shops, and bakeries. It's a nice place to spend an hour or two, and it's walking distance from Jeni's house.

Back at the campground, it was very active. The campground was full, and the lake was busy with boats and jet ski's. There was a lot of families, and everyone was having a good time even though the high was 93!

Pontoon, or party boats, are very popular down here. They hold a lot of people, and you can swim, dive, fish or party on them. Some even have BBQs on them for cooking.

On Sunday Linda & I went to Greenville for a shopping expedition. There's a nice mall with Dillards, Macys, Pennys, & Belk, a local department store. We didn't buy much, but John got some nice wine glasses at Coldwater Creek. They have a school of tiny fish in the side of the glass. We had a nice Mexican dinner at a restaurant called Don Pablos. Even in the south they have good fresh southwest food. It doesn't measure up to CA or AZ, but it was good after a long dry spell.

So that was our weekend. More later.

Time Is Passing Quickly

Here it is already Thursday, and it seems like we just got here. We're very comfortable in our new campground and we're enjoying relaxing by the lake. The weather been a little warm to spend much time outside, but we're hoping we'll get use to the humidity.

Linda has spent a lot of time starting the packing. It's hard to know what exactly to pack before everyone gets here, but she's doing her normal great job. The garage is starting to fill up with boxes, but there's still room for Jeni's car. So we have a long ways to go.

We've done a little shopping, but Linda is still looking for the right outfit. Jeni is making out well though as Linda finds new clothes for her. John been cooking most of the meals, but tonight we went out to Ruby Tuesday's for some great hamburgers.

So that's about it, not much exciting but we're really enjoying it. We know it'll start getting hectic next week. So stay tuned for more stories.

In case you're interested in John's iPhone, he's been adding apps like crazy. The iPhone is part phone, part computer. And you can go to the Apple Apps Store to get some amazing software. He'll highlight some during the coming posts in the blog. This time we'll feature Pandora, which is an Internet radio station that you program with your favorite artists or type of music. John picked Frank Sinatra (naturally), Glenn Miller, Michael Buble, and the Boston Pops. He can choose any artist, or choose a random mix of all of them, and the phone will play just those artists. It's pretty neat, but the iPhone needs earphones to get the best sound. But it does use the battery quite a bit. You can also listen to Pandora on your computer with access to the Internet. More next time.

We Move MoHo to a New Campground

Our week was finally up at the Anderson KOA. Here's a picture of our site, and as you can tell it's mostly rocks. What you can't tell is the bad slope towards the left. We were more than ready to relocate. The owners were real nice, but it wasn't a good fit for our needs with Pearl.

We decided to move to Twin Lakes Campground on Lake Hartwell. It's another Corp of Engineers(COE) facility with 50 amp electricity, good for the air conditioners, and water hookups. We don't have a sewer hookup, but there's bathrooms with showers & a dump station. Here's a picture of our new site, #95.

As you can see, it's very wide and has a sand base. Pearl loves it, and there's grass on the front of it. We're all very happy. We're about 5 miles away from Jeni, and Clemson. We'll be here until August 1, when we get ready to go to the Smokey Mountain National Park. This next picture is the view from our passenger side windows. We also have a view of the lake out the front window.

The campground is only about 1/3 full, but this weekend its sold out. So our views will be partially blocked by new campers in the vacant sites right on the lake. This is one of the problems with a 100% reservation system at a campground. Here there are not any first come first serve sites. The sites can all be reserved. So the locals reserve the best sites right on the lake on the weekends, but during the week there's tons of open sites. But if you want to stay for 1-2 weeks, your choices are very few and they're in the worst areas. We believe there should always be some first come sites available for travelers to use for extended stays. The fees here are $20, or $10 with an access pass. Very reasonable.

John walked down to the lake shore at sunset to get a picture of Lake Hartwell.

Lake Hartwell is huge, with part of it in GA, and most of it in SC. Clemson is right on the shore of the lake West of our location. And I-85 crosses the lake and has bridges over the different channels. Here's a link to maps of the Lake.

The weather has been pretty good, mid 80s with about 60% humidity. But it's supposed to get warmer towards the end of the week, with thunder storms. Hopefully they won't bother us or Pearl to much. We're much happier here at Twin Lakes.

Moving Sale

Saturday was the big moving sale for Jeni. We helped get everything ready on Friday, and John put up signs about the sale. Jeni had a good system for pricing. She put colored labels on all of the sale stuff, then put up a poster with the pricing by color code. Very efficient.

She had just started the sale when someone from the city came by and asked her if she had a permit! It seems that cities will charge you for anything to make additional money. Whatever happened to free market. Since she didn't have a permit, he took down most of her signs. Luckily she was able to sell some of the stuff before he got there. We wondered if they have to pay extra to have the inspector work Saturday just to check on sales. By the way, the permit is $40, which really cuts into any proceeds from the sale. We were going to have another sale, but we think we'll just donate all of the stuff from now on.

On Sunday we went to Gaffney to the outlet mall. Both of my girls were looking for some new outfits, but John ended up with new shoes, pants, and some shirts. So it was a good day all around. And we had lunch at a new Chipole Grill in Greenville. It satisfied all of our food needs as Linda & John got chicken bowls, and Jeni got a vegetarian bowl. One thing we forgot was that stores don't open on Sunday until 1:30 so that we got there a little early. Some things are different in the South. It did give us a chance to check out the water tower in Gaffney that is in the shape of a giant peach. Or from a certain direction like a giant butt. Look at a peach sometime from below

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An Exciting Day for John

We spent most of today at Jeni's house starting the packing. Linda spent the day in the garage organizing boxes and packing books. Jeni spent the afternoon working on her moving sale that is scheduled for tomorrow.

Now John, he did something different. For many months friends and family have been complaining about John's cell phone, and the poor audio. John finally made a decision and ordered a new one. And it came today:

A Brand New Apple iPhone 3G!

Talk about jumping from the dark ages to the newest. And of course he spent most of the day & night playing with it. Just what he needed, another gadget to play with. This will really try Linda's patience.

More on the phone in coming days. And more on Jeni's move later.

Another Blog to Read

Not much happened today, so we though we would share one of our favorite blogs with you.

Nick Russell writes a blog imaginably called "Nick's Blog". Nick and his wife Terry started fulltiming over 10 years ago. They were living in Show Low AZ, Nick running the local paper, and Terry managing a glass shop. They sold their house, and hit the road.

They started in a motorhome, but sold it for a bus conversion. They needed to some additional income, so Nick started to do what he does best, write and publish a newspaper on the road, so the Gypsy Journal was born. And that's how we found out about them with a subscription to their paper.

A couple of years ago Nick started the blog. He writes a new entry every day about what they're doing, where they are, and a lot of times some sage advice. It's always interesting, and we never miss a day.

So check out Nick's blog to find out what a real RV blog is about. You'll get hooked the same as we are. You can click on the underlined Nick's Blog.

Time In South Carolina

We're starting to settle in. Our sleep patterns seem to be still on Pacific time. We can't get to sleep to early, and we have trouble getting going in the morning. What's funny is that it even affects Pearl. She's slow getting out of bed in the morning.

On Tuesday we had a nice dinner with Jeni. It was so good seeing her in person instead of just talking on the phone. The last time we see her was at John's Mothers Memorial, which was a quick visit. We had dinner at McGee's Irish Pub in Anderson. It's always interesting to go out with Jeni now that's she's a vegetarian. She always finds something to eat on any menu with no problem. Linda and I split a "Steak & Cake". A small steak with a great crabcake. I don't have to tell you who ate what. It came with a twice baked potato and a greek style salad. Great food. It's funny though, we don't remember what Jeni ate-oh yeah, a salad and french onion soup. Ours was better.

Jeni had a Yoga class that night, so we called it an early evening. We did drop off all of the moving boxes we had brought from Aunt Donna to help with Jeni's move. For those of you who don't know, she's taken a position at Arizona State in Tempe. It's call a post doctoral position, and she'll be working with a famous Professor in Special Education for 2 years. It's really a plum job for Jeni, and we're happy that she's moving closer to the west coast. The only down side to the position is that she has to be in Arizona right after graduation, and she teaches her first class on August 17. We were hoping to spend some time together exploring areas on the east coast, but maybe some time in the future.

On Wednesday we explored downtown Anderson looking at the shops. Linda would like to get a new outfit for the graduation, and there's a lot of neat small shops. John even found a wine shop to spend some time in, and an organic grocery where he bought some raspberry jam and pickled beets. We had lunch downtown at a historic Town House. They had an interesting special where you can choose fried chicken, NY steak or prime rib with 3 sides for $7.50. As is our habit, we split fried chicken with pickled beets, homemade potato salad, and peach cobbler as our sides. Every thing was good, but the peach cobbler was a little too sweet.

Jeni was busy that night, so we headed back to the MoHo. One of the problems at this campground is that we're in trees so we can't get our Direct TV. They do offer cable though, but it's hard to watch all of the commericals. Are we spoiled or what.

Tomorrow more planning, and packing.

South Carolina at Last!

Whew, we made it! We finished the trip today. We started in Mississippi, then went through Alabama, then Georgia, and finally South Carolina. We're at the Anderson KOA about 5 miles from Jeni's house.

This KOA doesn't measure up to the fine experience we had in OK. It's an older facility that doesn't handle big rigs very well. The site we have is on a slope and has gravel instead of grass. We thought we were saving money because they were running a special, stay 4 night and get 3 nights free. Now we know why. We'll be moving to another campground on Monday when our week is up.

Tonight we're just staying in the MoHo resting and recovering. Tomorrow we'll see Jeni and figure out our next steps. Pearl is starting to act more normal, which is very encouraging to us. We think this might be her last trip in the MoHo.

The weather here is not as hot as on the trip, a high about 92 with 60% humidity. Much better than OK, but still plenty hot for these westerners used to a dry heat. We run the air 24 hours a day to stay cool.

Fulton, MS

Come on, you all know Fulton, MS. HUH! It's a small town just past Tupelo. And do you know who was born in Tupelo? None other the King, the original, Elvis! They have a statue and the home where he was born. And 30 miles east of Tupelo is the Whitten Park campground, one of the Corps of Engineers facilities.

We have never stayed at a COE campground, and boy have we been missing out. What a beautiful park, right on the river. We had a long pull through with 50 amp electric and water, but no sewer. And the rate was only $11 with our federal access card. What a bargain!

We finally got off of I-40 as we were leaving Arkansas. We zipped through a little portion of Memphis, TN, and then we were on Hwy. 78 in Mississippi. We love to spell that state. Hwy 78 is a limited access 4 lane divided road that had signs up stating that it's the future I-22. Great road with no potholes.

Tomorrow we should make it to SC. We're looking forward to stopping for a while. This is not our type of traveling. We like to travel 200 miles and then stop for a week and explore the area. And we're going to do that in SC.

Checotah, OK

Boy, it's hot going across Oklahoma. We left New Mexico, crossed the panhandle of Texas including Amarillo, and into Oklahoma. In Amarillo is a famous Big Texan Steak House, home of the 72oz. steak. It's free if you can eat it in an hour, and they have a list of the all of the people who have meant the challenge.

How do people live here with all of the humidity, and tornadoes. Of course, California has earthquakes, the Midwest has deep snow and freezes, and the South has hurricanes. So we guess everywhere has weather problems, no place is perfect.

We made it to the small town of Checotah which is on Lake Eufala. It's a pretty lake with a lot of cabins around it. We decided to stay at a KOA, a chain of franchise campgrounds across the US. We haven't stayed in one in a long time, but the website RV Park Reviews gave it high marks. It was a very nice park, with a restaurant and grassy sites, which Pearl our dog really appreciated after 3 days of rock and sand in the desert. If we weren't in a hurry, we would have spent another night just to relax.

Tomorrow, it's on to Arkansas and beyond!

Tucumcari, NM

We're at Cactus RV park in Tucumcari, New Mexico. This is an old town with many memories of Route 66. This RV park used to be the old Cactus Motel. The rooms are boarded up and the parking lot is converted to a RV park with full hookups. The people were very nice, the rate is only $17, and it was just what we wanted for an overnight stay.


We needed a 50 amp hookup so that we could run our air conditioners during the night. The high during the day was 97, and it didn't cool down much at night. We went out to dinner at a local steakhouse and it was good, with an excellent salad bar. Then we drove the old route 66, with all of the old motels and sights. Some were in good shape, but a lot were in ruins. It's not the most prosperous town. They do have a nice looking museum about dinosaurs, but it was closed.

As I mentioned, it was hot. In the afternoon we did something we had never done before. We started the generator and turned on the roof air conditioners. It made a huge difference, as we were comfortable and able to turn off the engine air. John had read in one of the online blogs that the average MPG stay the same.

Tomorrow it's on to Oklahoma. Hotter, and the humidity will start to get bad. We're not as worried though now that we know that the roof air conditioners work so well.

Back on the Road

As many of you know, we had to change our plans on March 31 and instead of beginning our travels east, drove west. John's Mother, Betty, had taken ill, and we wanted to visit the Doctor with her. The diagnosis was not what we expected, they found that she had lung cancer. For the first time since November, 2006, we had to find a storage site for MoHo, and we moved into Betty's house.

After a brief battle, John's Mom passed away on May 9. We were shocked that she went so fast, but thankful that we were able to spend a lot of time with her. Now she's reunited with John's Dad, and in a much better place.

It took us quite a while to finalize all of the details after the memorial service. But we're anxious to get back to South Carolina to spend time with Jeni and get ready for the big celebration of her graduation. Did I mention that our daughter is now a Doctor of Education!!! All of her hard work was successful, and she graduates on August 8.

So we left L.A. this morning. We had move MoHo from the storage lot to Linda's Mom's(Lois) driveway to charge the batteries, restart the refrigerator, and move our stuff back in. This felt strange, as we had never taken stuff out of MoHo for a long period of time. We were aiming to leave by 9:30am, and we hit the road at 9:45, really good for us. The only problem was that John forgot the cell phones and chargers back at Betty's house. So we backtracked to Laguna Woods, picked up the phones, and then started East. We followed I-15 towards Las Vegas, and then caught I-40 heading East. This would be our route for the next 4 days.

As we went over the pass out towards the high desert, guess what? It started to get HOT. But the MoHo was running well and we made it almost to Flagstaff. It was late and we were just looking for a place to sleep so we stopped in a rest area just west of the city. And it was nice and cool since we were at 7300' above sea level. It would the last time we were cool.

Tomorrow we'll head for New Mexico.

A Trip Back to Los Angeles

We headed back to SoCal on Wed., 2-4, for a few days. On Thursday John gave a wine seminar for his Mom's church group. It started with a delicious lunch, then John was on. He was planning on a 45 minute presentation, but it stretched to 90 minutes. He sure can talk a lot about wine! There was some good questions, and good discussion. The leader said it was the best attended function in years. We told you the food was good.

The big surprise for both of us was the attendance of Pastor Birner and Freida. Pastor Birner married us 40 years ago, and was our Pastor during our high school, college, and early married years. He also married our son Matt, and his son David was in our wedding. Freida bought some pictures so that we could catch up with family news. David is a serving in the Missionary area managing many of the Lutheran overseas missions. It was so much fun learning of our friends life's.

It was enjoyable staying with John's Mom in Laguna Woods. It's a senior active living development similar to Del Web, with lots of activities. John's Mom works with ceramics and makes many beautiful pieces. In fact, while we were there she gave us a beautiful wine chiller. She also cooked us one of Linda's favorite dinners, pot roast. Thanks, Mom, for a great time.

On Friday we had to leave because John had a Doctor's appointment for his hip. It continuing to heal, but it's still sore and John has a limp when he walks. So he'll have to return in March for another checkup. It sure takes longer to heal when you're old.

One of the Christmas presents the family gave Linda's Mom was a home makeover with the labor provided by the Grandkids. Since we were in town, we used this weekend for the projects. Michael & John put in a new dishwasher, Linda, Donna, Katie & Tif pulled all of the old wallpaper out of the bedroom and bathroom, then on Sunday Michael, Matt, & Suzanne painted the rooms. It turned our really nice, and Lois was happy with the results. And everyone had a great time!

On Saturday John headed out to Perchanga Resort, where Matt works, to attend a wine festival. There was over 80 wineries represented and the event was sold out.

There's was a lot of great food from the 7 different restaurants in the resort, including the new grill at the recently opened golf course, Journey.

There was also a silent auction for the Red Cross, cheese tastings, and more. The event was so much fun, John was glad to learn they're planning to repeat it next year. You can see more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/winequest/PechangaWineFestival#

After the event, John went back to Matt & Suzanne's house. They recently had some work done in their yard to put in a patio and grass. Some of you readers may remember our entry when John helped Matt put in the sprinkler system. Now the project is complete, except for some plants.

As you can tell, every time Matt works on his landscaping, it pours down rain!

But it did turn out really nice. Now Matt & Suzanne can get a dog!

So it was a busy 5 days, but very rewarding. On Sunday night we headed back to Surprise and Happy Trails to relax and recover.

The Bar in the Desert

Last year we missed the trip to the Bar in the Desert, so we made sure we were able to go. We carpooled and caravaned out to Parker, AZ, and then drove about 5 miles on a graded gravel road to reach the bar. Officially it's called the Nellie E. Saloon, but considering the location everyone refers to it as the bar in the desert. It's only open on Sat. & Sun. from noon to sunset. Everything runs on batteries that are charged by solar panels on the roof of the bar. There's no cell service either. It's as bad as the campground we worked at in the Olympic National Park!


The bar was opened in 1983 in a small 3 sided structure. As it's popularity grew, the bar developed a little at a time. All of the materials were brought in by truck, including the water that was transported in an old fire engine. They later drilled a well, hitting water at 360 feet. The tall towers you see are a cooling system, similar to a swamp cooler.

The view from the back of the bar is great, and you can see some of the road we used to get here.

This is the patio below the entertainment stage close to the grill area. There's a limited menu: hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, and veggie burgers. They serve mostly beer, but also carry limited liquor and box wine. Oh, and they don't serve cheese, ever! You can learn more about the saloon by clicking on this link.

Here's a picture of our table and group. We had about 14 people. We got there early to make sure we had enough chairs.

Here's a picture of the women's restroom. The men's restroom isn't as nice, more of a porta potty.

We were very glad we made the trip. The band was good, the beer was cold, the chili was OK, and the conversations first rate. If you want to see all of the pictures we took that day, click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/winequest/TheBarInTheDesert#

We're definitely coming back next year!

Quartzsite, AZ-2009

On Tuesday, 1/20, we brought the MoHo out of our lot at Happy Trails for the first time for the short 2 1/2 hour drive to the legendary Quartzsite. We caravaned with our friends Allan & Shari and Bob & Maggie. We met with other Monaco owners at the same spot as last year, about 5 miles out of town on BLM land. This area allows 14 days of dispersed camping for free out in the middle of the desert. Click here to view last years blog entries.

This is camping with no hookups at all. It's called boondocking by RVer's or dry camping. We have to rely on only the water we carry with us in our tank, and keep track our usage of water to make sure that we don't fill up our black & gray water drain tanks. We use our batteries for electricity, and we run our generator to recharge the batteries a couple of times a day. We're really into green living! We can last 7-9 days like this before we have to dump our tanks and fill up with water again.

The Monaco group has been coming to the same area for 8 years. Some of the other groups gather in a circle like a wagon train, but we like to line up next to each other.

In case you're wondering why, here's the view from our living room out the front window.

As you can see, it's spectacular. And it changes with the time of day.

Unlike last year, the weather has been great. Cold nights, but warm days, with lots of sunshine. This allowed us to have a long Happy Hour every day! We would drag our chairs over into a circle, and enjoy a beverage and some snacks with our friends.

It always seems that no matter how we start out sitting, the ladies figure out a way to get together for their own conversation.

The men generally stand or sit, and talk about their motorhomes and places they've been. We don't know what the women talk about, but maybe that's a good thing.

While we're here we visit the big tent where the RV show is, and we try not to buy very much. We also visit the other sales areas. It's like a big swap meet, with everything from jewelry to tools to rocks. There's something for every interest.

We also visited the Bar in the Desert. That was interesting enough to warrant a separate blog entry to follow.

We also had a potluck where everyone grilled their own meat entree, and sampled all of the different sides that were shared. It was quite a spread, and everyone really enjoyed it.

All to soon, on Sunday, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Happy Trails so that John could continue his Physical Therapy and Linda could attend a Doctor's appointment. It was a great week. If you would like to see all of the pictures from the week please click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/winequest/QuartzsiteAZWithMonacoFriends#

Stay tuned for the Bar in the Desert

Carefree Wine & Art Festival

On Jan. 18 we went to the Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival. Carefree is a town about 45 minutes from Surprise and north of Phoenix. It's rural enough to have its own character, and it has a western theme. For more information, click on the Carefree Web link. One of it's claim to fame is that Carefree is the home of the world's largest sundial. We guess every town needs something to make it unique.

Our good friends, Bob & Maggie Lawlor, accompanied us on this excursion. Here we are enjoying the art.

This is a juried art festival, so all of the exhibitors have won awards at other art competitions. This raised the level on the quality of the art and sculpture exhibited, but also raised the price tags. We were there to enjoy the art and taste some of the wine, so price was no object! The wine tasting consisted of a small glass and 5 tickets to exchange for a taste. We decided after tasting some of the wine that Arizona has a long ways to go to produce great wine.

The art was outstanding though. We were not allowed to take a lot of pictures, but John couldn't resist these images, which he knew that Jeni and other cat lovers would love.

John knew there was a reason he preferred wine and dogs over cats. Dogs would never waste good vino!

There was a few other vendors, including a New Mexico farm that produced great goat cheese spreads. The name of the farm is Coon Ridge, which we felt was more appropriate for a TN farm that one from NM. There was many samples, and we choose two, one with Italian Herbs, and the other one natural. They only produce organic cheese, and they do ship, so if you want so really great cheese spread for crackers or bread check out their website at:

www.coonridge.com

It isn't inexpensive, but it is unique, and a little goes a long way.

It was a beautiful day, and we had a great lunch on the Carefree Station Grill. We were lucky to get a table on the patio so that we could continue to enjoy the day. The food was fantastic, and it was nice to sit down and relax after walking around the festival.

Our Birthdays-We Continue to Age

Linda & John have birthdays in January, two days apart. As we have gotten older, we tend no to want to celebrate them. This year was no exception.

We started off with a nice dinner party here at our lot. There was a total of 5 couples from the Northwest, each bringing their own meat and a side dish. After some appetizers and adult beverages, John started the grill. With the help of the other men the meats were cooked to perfection. The ladies assembled all of the side dishes and we dug in. It was a great evening with a beautiful sunset. The only thing better than the food was the company.

On John's actual birthday, we went to physical therapy. What a way to celebrate. After the torture we stopped at Sonic Drive In so that John could get a cherry limeade. They have a special of a large drink for 99 cents. After the workout we get thirsty. We had lunch at the MoHo, then Linda went off to beading class and John went to the library and ran errands.

John decided he wanted some Chinese food for his birthday so we tried a new restaurant called Pei Wei Asian Diner. This is a diner owned by P.F. Changs. The food is cooked to order in big woks behind the counter and the menu contains many of the same dishes as it's parent. We shared some spring rolls, John enjoyed some crab wontons, and then we shared sweet & sour chicken. It was a good meal, but not as good as the original P.F. Changs. We then had some left over chocolate raspberry cake from the dinner. A good day.

Linda's Birthday started out the same as John's. An hour and a half in the torture chamber. But before we left the MoHo, John started on Linda's special dinner. We found a slow cooker at the garage sale and John used it to cook a pot roast. We cooked it for 10 hours, but it didn't turn out very tender. John must have picked the wrong cut of meat. But the flavor was good and the gravy was very tasty. John is going to try another recipe soon.

We really appreciated all of the cards, emails, and calls on our birthdays. It made all of you a part of our celebration. We only wish we could all be together for a big party. Maybe another birthday in the future!

Welcome to 2009

We're back at our Winter home, Happy Trails RV Resort. We arrived back on Monday, 12-29, in the evening. We had a few stops to make on our way back, and we stopped for dinner at Silly Al's in Quartzite.

We had an appointment with Physical Therapy (PT) on Tuesday. We're both going to PT, John for his hip, and Linda for her back. When we got down we were both very sore. John likes to call PT the torture chamber! But we need to work hard to get better. We'll have sessions twice a week for awhile.

We had a great New Year's Eve. One of our group of friends is renting a house in Sun City Grand, which is right next door to Happy Trails. It's a beautiful home with a big patio overlooking one of the golf courses. We shared pizza, salad, and of course libations! We watched the motorcycle jump from Las Vegas, and then the ball drop in New York. Then we went home. It's tough to stay up late for us old timers.

On New Year's Day we watched to Rose Parade from our bedroom. Because we're in the Mountain time zone, it started at 9:00am, so we were awake for it. And we got to watch it on the local L.A. station without commericals. In the afternoon we got together with our friends and went to the movies. We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was a different film with great special effects, and it left us with some things to think about. But the message was a little murky. But it was fun to get out to a movie. We plan to do more outings like this all year. John had Tivo'ed the Rose Bowl(USC won), so he watched that while Linda caught up on some chores. The weather has been good, but not warm enough to sit outside in the evening. Over the weekend John continued to watch football, while Linda spent time with her friends.

Back to PT on Monday & Wednesday. It sure makes John walk like an old man. And next week will be birthdays for both John & Linda. It makes you really feel your age. John wants to take the Jack Benny approach, staying at 39 years old. Linda just wants to forget all about birthdays. We think that most of our friends our age agree with Linda's philosophy.

We're making a list of places we want to visit and things we want to do while we're here. That way we won't forget them. Old age you know. Next week we'll let you know how we celebrated.

Christmas 2008

On Monday, 12-22, we headed out from Happy Trails to SoCal. Our destination was our son Matt's house in Hemet, CA. However, before we get there we stopped by Lois's house in La Mirada to drop our dog Pearl off for her Holiday visit with her best friend Misty. There was tail wags galore, and Pearl really appreciated some time on real grass instead of rocks in AZ. We also picked up some Christmas items we would need during our stay.

Since we were taking our dog with us to SoCal, it limited our space in the Pilot for presents. We had to run around a little bit to pick up some last minute items. Linda started a new tradition for our children's presents this year. We would limit the presents to three-one based on a want, one based on a need, and one that was a surprise. It seemed to work out very well. We did more shopping this year on the Internet with the items being shipped to us. We got some unique products, good prices, and surprise, all of the items arrived before Christmas!

On Tues. 12-23, John had a follow up appointment with his Doctor in Santa Monica. With all of the traffic it was an all day ordeal. But it was worth it, the x-ray showed the hip mending well and even some new bone growth. He still has to do physical therapy and come back for another x-ray in 2 months, but we're really encouraged.

On Christmas eve we headed out to John's cousin Linda's house in San Bernadino to celebrate with his side of the family. It was a lot fun seeing all of the family and how they had grown over the past year. Linda and her husband Mike made a good Lasagna dinner with all of the trimmings, and we caught up on all of the news with the families. It really special to see John's Mom Betty and her sister Shirley. Both of them are doing well.

On Christmas day we headed down to Garden Grove for Christmas with Linda's side of the family. Our niece Val and her husband Rick were the hosts this year and they went all out to make the day special. Like I mentioned in the last post, our daughter Jeni couldn't join us this Christmas. She had to stay in SC to finish her project. But she was with us in electronic form through the Internet. Using web cams in CA and SC, we were able to share the Christmas experience together. When one of Jeni's presents was announced, someone would open it in front of the camera and she could see what her present was. It worked out pretty well, and Jeni got to see what everyone got. She did miss an excellent dinner, though. Here's a picture of the computer with Jeni on the other end.

Of course the real center of attention was the three little ones, our nieces and nephew. Here's a closeup. From left to right we have Chase, then Iris in the middle, and on the right is Violet. Aren't they cute!

It was another great Christmas even though we missed Jeni. Next year we'll have everyone back together again, and it will be even more special. If you want to see all of the pictures from Christmas, click in the link to see our web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/winequest/Christmas2008#

After Christmas it was back to Matt's house. On 12-26 we picked up John's mother at her sister's and took her home. Normally Matt, Suzanne, and Jeni join us, but Matt had to work and Jeni was in SC, so it was just Linda & John. But we had a good time exchanging presents and catching up.

One of the present we got Matt was a water fountain for his front door. John had to put it together, and then Linda planted some pots around it to add some color. It ended up real nice and makes their front door area real inviting. It fun to see the kids making progress on their new house.

On Monday we picked up Pearl and headed back to Happy Trails for the New Year. We pray that everyone had a great Holiday and we hope 2009 turns out to be a great year.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We do get some nice sunsets when it gets cloudy here at Happy Trails! This is the view from our patio.

When I posted about our visit to the light show, I didn't have the pictures in the computer yet. So, belatedly, here's some of the standing displays we drove by. Here's a train that John had to stop and take a picture of:

Here's a fire truck for our nephew Michael who is a fireman:

We've talked a lot about our friends here, so we thought a picture would be a good idea. Starting from the left we have Bob Lawler, then Allan Kainu, Sharri Kainu, and Maggie Lawler.


We spent most of the week deciding and shopping for Christmas presents. We leave on Monday for our Sons Matt's house for the Christmas week. John has a Doctor's appointment on Tuesday, 12-23 for his hip. And then we celebrate with John's family on Christmas Eve, and Linda's family on Christmas Day. The sad news is that our daughter, Jeni, will miss her first Christmas with the family. She's snowed under with dissertation preparation, with a hard deadline of Jan. 5. So she doesn't have time for the coast to coast travel. We don't know who is more depressed, Jeni or us, but we'll just have to make up for it next year. Jeni has her eye on the target, and she will succeed.

More on Christmas in the next post.

What's Happin With the Huber's

Sunday we started with the church service here at the Resort. It's an interdenominational service and there was about 450 attendees. There are 2 retired pastors who conduct the service, and best of all there's a 70 member choir. They sing all of the old hymns and the sermons are down to earth.

After church we went out to breakfast with some friends from Vancouver, WA. We went to a local restaurant called the Maui Grill. It's a coffee shop with a Hawaiian theme. Linda had the macadamia nut pancakes, and John had the crab melt. Both were delicious!

On the way back to the resort we stopped at a couple of open houses in Sun City Grand. Just doing more research. Then we went to the workout room and tried out the equipment. It's very nice, and we're planning on using it on a regular basis.

On Monday Linda attended a beading class, and on Tuesday John joined the woodworking group called the Sawmill. He hopes to learn some new skills and build a couple of small projects after the first of the year.

Thursday night we went to a special drive through Christmas light display which included many action figures and 6 drive through tunnels. Afterwards we all went to devour some pizza at a local place called NYPD, with New York style pizza.

We also had some happy hours with our friends during the week, and a special dinner on Friday night. Bob & Maggie hosted us for a Jamaican themed dinner, which was very good. There was jerk chicken, Allan & Shari prepared fried plantains, and we made the collard greens. Even John tried the collard greens which were good.

Saturday night our group finished off the pizza leftovers with a great salad Linda made. And we bid farewell to our Allan & Shari. They left on the first flight on Sunday to Seattle to be with their family. We even got up a 4:00am to take them to the airport. When John turned on the water for a shower, there was no water. We thought the worst, but when we got back to the MoHo it was only a loose connection! Whew! Needless to say, we went back to bed and slept well.

So that's been our week. Oh, we did some shopping, Linda continued her morning walks, John got a library card, and we did some more shopping. So it was a fun week.

Our First Week at Happy Trails

We got here on Monday and got the MoHo setup and leveled. On Tuesday we worked around the lot. We had to get a new sewer hose for the hookup here. Since the satellite dish is covered by the awning we had to hook up to an external dish mounted on the roof. Luckily it was pointed at the right satellite, and we had TV by the early afternoon.

Linda cleaned the desert sand that we had picked up in Desert Hot Springs out of the interior of the coach, and John fixed the Bar-b-que so that we could use it while we're here. We also took advantage of the washer & dryer, and began to explore the park.

One of the events we enjoy is getting together with our friends for "Happy Hour". It's great fun having great neighbors again. Here we are with Bob & Maggie at Shari & Allan's lot. Allan was out of town, and Shari was getting appetisers so they're not in the picture. John has a lot of work to do on improving his photos.

There's a nice area called the town center across the fairway from our lot. There's a large auditorium for shows and dances, several work rooms for the different crafts, a library, billiard room, and an exercise room.

The Chuckwagon is the on site restaurant serving breakfast & lunch Mon-Fri, and special dinners. There's both pickle ball and tennis courts, a wood shop, and 2 other clubhouses. There's also a great pool and spa.

There are many special events. The first one was on Wednesday, a craft fair. Linda went and found some unique handmade items. Who could she had bought something for? On Friday was the monthly vendor day where there are many booths setup selling anything from makeup, food, to carpet and rv accessories. Most of these events are held inside the auditorium and outside on the plaza are around the fountains.

On Friday night, the Huber's had their first dinner party here at Happy Trails. We invited three other couples to our lot, and they brought the sides and desserts. John used the grill to cook some great NY strip steaks from Costco, and we served some delicious wine. It was a fun evening and we even burned a fire in our outdoor fireplace. We plan to do a lot more of these get together's.

Every morning Linda has been getting up at the crack of dawn to go on a walk with her girlfriends, Shari & Maggie. They walk about 31/2 miles through the park. It's great to have someone to walk with and they are keeping themselves very motivated.

On Sat. even John got early for the first half of the two part yard sale inside the park. Twice a year they have a designated day for yard sales, and everyone rushes around in their golf carts looking for bargains. We didn't find anything to buy, but Allan & Shari found a nice wicker table for their patio area.

So that's what we've been doing. I'll try to keep up to date with what we're doing. It's a lot of fun and very busy. And the classes haven't started yet!

Our Home at Happy Trails

We promised you pictures of our home for the next four months. Here we are, starting to settle in lot 676. We're just 3 lots from the corner, and a half a block from our good friends from Monaco Northwest Bob & Maggie and Shari & Allan. There's a full cover over the patio and the coach, and the two story shed is towards the front of the lot. There's plenty of room to park the car and golf cart in the front.

The patio and sitting are is behind the shed and next to the coach. We like this because it gives us a large area and its screened from the street. The back of the patio looks out over the 17th tee of the golf course, and has a fireplace for cold nights.

Although the view of the golf course is of the 17th tee, which isn't that spectacular, at least we don't have any golf balls flying towards the MoHo.

We also have a nice outdoor kitchen with a Bar-b-que, hot plate, and a nice counter for laying out food for guests. We're still in the midst of cleaning it up and making sure everything is working. The weird wooden box on the right is an outdoor shower, which we'll probably never use.

Inside the shed is a stacked washer and dryer, a workbench, and a refrigerator. Pretty nice for us as it gives us room to spread out and we'll even be able to shop at Costco for food again. There's a second floor available for extra storage.

Since John took these pictures, Linda has cleaned everything up, John has fixed the bar-b-que, and we've added two tables and 8 chairs. So now we can entertain more than 2 other people for the first time since we left Turlock and started this adventure.

So we're real excited. We get a morning newspaper everyday, and we even have our own mailbox. Our mail address is:

John & Linda Huber

17200 W. Bell Rd., Lot 2427

Surprise, AZ 85374

So write us if you get a chance, and visit us whenever you can. The weather has been in the mid 70's and we haven't even had a cloudy day!

Moving Day

Once again the Hubers have the MoHo on the road. We've been in SoCal for over a month visiting Doctors, doing physical therapy, and most important, visiting with family and friends. The time has come to make our move to Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ, just west of Phoenix. It's hard to leave our family and friends, but we hope they will visit us during our 4 month stay there.

Linda started getting ready to move on Saturday by putting away all of the chairs, rolling up the awnings, and taking off the tire covers. While uncovering the passenger side rear tires, she noticed that one of the tires was low. John said no problem, we'll just pump it up using the air compressor on board the MoHo that runs our brakes and air bags. Except when John tried to connect the hose to the air outlet, it wouldn't fit. Off to Home Depot, to buy new parts. Has John ever done project that didn't require a trip to the hardware store? He got back to the park, and tried the new parts-didn't fit. It turned out the coupler to the air line was corroded. It must have been the moist WA air! So today John called our roadside service company who sent out a nice man with a compressor in the back of his truck. He felt that the braided extensions were slowly leaking and he tightened everything up and filled the tire. By the time all this was done, it was 10:00am. Still plenty of time to drive down the I-10 to get to Happy Trails before dark.

Our good friends, Bob & Maggie Lawler were staying in the park with us and they also were heading for Happy Trails so we caravaned to our new home. We both wanted to get fuel after we got to AZ, and John remembered Zips Truck Stop that had been recommended by Allan & Shari last year. So we stopped there and filled up with diesel for only $2.04 a gallon. When we were in WA in June we filled up at $4.79 a gallon. That was very good news.

We filled up first and started heading east on I-10 before Bob & Maggie, knowing that they would catch up to us at Happy Trails. Well, John took the wrong exit, and almost got stuck on a dead end road. So by the time he got back to the freeway Bob was way past him. Oh, well. At least we didn't get stuck!

It was still light when we got to the resort. John had been worried about the coach fitting in the space we rented because there are some close poles that support a roof over the coach. But with Linda & Shari's great help he got it in with room to spare. We got hooked up and then went over to Shari's space for a great lasagna dinner. What great friends.

We'll be here until April 1, so we would like everyone to come visit us. And we're going to go back to SoCal a few times to visit with family. It's only a 5 hour drive to L.A. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures and tell you a little more about Happy Trails.

A Visit to Pechanga

While we were staying at Wilderness Lakes, we visited our son Matt at his employer, Pechanga Resort & Casino. The lobby of the hotel was all decked out for the Holidays.

The main reason we visited was to have lunch with Matt(he bought). But while we were there, Matt got John a cart and showed us the new golf course, Journey, and the clubhouse. Here's the lobby of the clubhouse, overlooking the 1st tee and the 18th green.

Outside of the lobby and the restaurant is a beautiful deck for public or private functions. Some of the oak trees are over 100 years old.

And here's the view from the deck overlooking the dry wash.

The resort has also completely upgraded their spa. If you're in the Temecula area make sure you stop. It's even worth a special trip!

Valerie Turns 30

Our niece Valerie turned 30 this month. Her husband Rick decided to throw a surprise party for her with her friends & relatives. He decided on a novel theme-Bowling. So he rented a room in the local bowling alley, some lanes, food & good beverages. It sounded a bit off the wall, but it worked out terrific!

Here's everyone waiting for the birthday girl to arrive. Luckily the food was served or there might have been a mutiny. The food was good, all sorts of hand munchies from veggies to pizza.



Fashionably late, but still surprised, here's Val as she entered the party room.

Rick really pulled it off-a nice surprise party.

One of the elements of the party was a magician. Before Val & Rick arrived he entertained the kids and some of the adults. Then it Val's turn to be his able bodied assistant. She did very well with the rings, putting them together and taking them apart. Or did the magician do it all?

As befitting a bowling party, most of the party took to the lanes. A lot of them were rusty, some got better after a few beverages. This is Val's sister Tiffanie showing great form. I don't remember what her top score was. I think it was in the high 70s.

After everyone finished bowling, Val got to blow out her candles and everyone had some ice cream cake. Some of us wore more than we ate, but we all had fun.

A special thank you to Tiffanie, Donna, and Linda for helping Rick surprise Val and making sure everyone had a good time.

If you would like to see all of the pictures from the party, please click here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/winequest/ValSBirthday#