2012-02-27

I looked back, and I have not written since the 16th.  We have been very busy for some reason, and I do not know why, but I just did not get around to writing.  We left Lake Havasu City and WinterBlast (the fireworks display) on Monday and returned to squatting on Denny and Susie’s lot at North Ranch in Congress, AZ.  Well, it wasn’t as easy as that sounds.  It seemed like everyone had left, and we were unable to get our front passenger side jack to go up.  After messing around with it for a while, a neighbor (in a fifth-wheel) offered a 12 ton jack.  With it, we were able to relieve the pressure on the jack so it cycled up and away we went.  When we arrived at North Ranch, the same jack would not go down far enough to level the house.  So Tuesday I called Tiffin Motorhomes to find out a part number to see if we wanted to order a jack.  The Tech said we have the best price in town – $443, and we could have it in 3 business days.  I knew that was a good price because Orangewood RV of Phoenix had said that the jack would cost $700 and it might take 4 weeks to get the new one in, so I ordered the one from Tiffin.  I knew that there were enough former mechanics in North Ranch that we could borrow tools from to take the old one off and put the new one on.  How could 4 bolts and a couple of wires be too hard.  With our extended warranty, we only would have had to pay a $200 deductible, but the $500 (with shipping) seemed to be the best move since we could have it done so much sooner.  We did have to wait over the weekend, and it took 4 business days, but we received in yesterday in time to ask for help last night at the Progressive Dinner (more about that later).  I borrowed a jack and some tools from George yesterday afternoon.  This morning my help and supervisors arrived after Denny, Marilyn and I had backed the rig up onto some boards.  Marilyn took a couple of pictures of the workers and the supervisors.  She also took a couple of pictures with her phone that she put on Facebook.    The new jack was put on before noon, and I really have to thank my helpers.  Walt Gunn was able to fit in places that I could not, and he did most of the removal and re-installation.  Ed Kruty supplied more tools plus his supervision.  And Dennis Hill gophered for tools as well as supervising.  Thank you, all of you.

In between the 16th and today, we have have had wonderful happy hours and dinners with our SKP friends here at North Ranch.  We even attended the Chapter 32 monthly luncheon at the Golden Corral.  Yesterday, we had a Progressive Dinner that had been organized by Susie Orr and Lila Dudley, and it was wonderful.  We started with Hors-doevres at the Krutys.  Then we went to the Johnson’s for salads; followed by lasagna dinner (prepared by Kellie Gunn) at the Orr’s; and finally we had dessert at the Dudley’s.  What a wonderful way to spread dinner amongst different locations.

2013-02-16

We are still enjoying our boondocking just south of Lake Havasu City, AZ.  We went to China City Buffet for one of the best Chinese Buffets we have ever had.  Marilyn concentrated on the sea food, while I concentrated on all of the chicken dishes.  Friday and Saturday nights we have gone to the Western Pyrotechnic association’s “WinterBlast” where they demonstrate fireworks displays that can be used by towns, etc. in the summer.

Our group of attendees last night consisted of Denny & Susie Orr, Steve & Lila Dudley, Walt & Kellie Gunn, Ed & Sandi Kruty, Bob & Molly Pinner, Mark Nemeth, and others.   On Facebook, you can see this picture where people were asked to “Name That Butt”.

We had a gorgeous sunset over the mountains behind the Colorado River. 

Kellie was given a toy that she treasured, and used to lead our group out to the parking lot.

People were taught how to make displays in seminars, which they tried out during the evenings both Friday and Saturday.  Then there were the commercial demonstrations where we saw display of over 700 fireworks to over 30 minutes were shot off as fast as they could.  We have never seen displays shot so fast over a 30 minute period before.

Type at you later.

2013-02-13

We began the day early for us.  We had to be at the activity center at 8:45am to start our trip to Camp Date Creek.  Denny & Susie had left about 8am for the ATV trip to the same place.  Marilyn and I drove Denny & Susie’s Jeep Liberty, and we enjoyed the ride out.

Camp Date Creek was established in 1867 and was closed in 1873.  Its purpose was to protect the wagon trains traversing the area, and to move the local Yavapai Indians to a reservation elsewhere.  Date Creek was one of the few sources of water on the roads from Prescott to Wickenburg, and to La Paz.  One of the first things we had to do was to crawl under some barbed wire fencing.    Bill was our tour guide to the area, and we had about 50 for the tour once the ATVs arrived.    The old Army camp is reduced to ruins today.  This was the Commissary.   We also had to climb over another fence.    Some of the rocks had interestingly colored things growing on them.    We changed vehicles on the way back.  Susie Orr drove her Jeep and Lila Dudley rode with her.  Marilyn rode with Denny Orr in his Razr, and I drove most of the way with Steve Dudley in his Razr.  It was fun. 

Type at you later.

2013-02-10, 11, and 12

 

Sunday, after lunch on the 10th, Susie and Denny drove us back in to Wickenburg for the Gold Rush Days Rodeo.  It was a lot of fun.    Following is the rodeo Zamboni.    We had the parade of contestants first.    Of course we had clowns.    There were bucking horses, barrel racing, bull riding, steer wrestling, and calf roping.    After a delicious dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, we went to the Melodrama at the local theater.    First were the musical acts.    Then the bad guy tries to take the house away from the fair maiden and her family, but the good guy has a prior claim and marries her. 

This morning, the 11th, we had some rain.  Steve Dudley came over to see if I had an answer for his computer problem.  He was unable to send emails from his Microsoft Outlook program.  His primary email address is with hotmail.  When I went to look at his computer, we found that there was no email address set up on Outlook.  We first tried to us his hotmail address, but Outlook would not set it up automatically.  We next tried his Gmail account, and voila, it worked.  He can now use outlook to send an email, although he will continue to use his online hotmail account for 99 percent of his email work.  This afternoon it has turned sunny for a little while.  Steve came over and we called Amazon, and they helped me out getting Susie and Denny’s address set up for a couple of orders.  Susie Orr had us over for a big pot of soup for dinner.  Marilyn brought a salad, and Lila Dudley brought brownies.

Today, the 12th, Denny and Susie drove us in to Wickenburg to get a prescription filled at CVS.  We then shopped at Safeway, and had lunch at McDonald’s.  During the afternoon, Denny and I hooked his trailer up to the motorhome so he could tow his Razr to WinterBlast on Thursday.  JerrieLea and Ron Hopf invited all of us to her house for 4pm social where we all had a good time swapping lies.  Now we are watching the Westminster Dog show.