Joan on the Road...of Life

Yesterday we took an hour to bike on the paths along the irrigation canal near our resort. Check out the info about the canals which are hundreds of miles long and hundreds of years old. There are bike paths and parks along the way that are nicely landscaped.

This view is heading north along the canal...not a sight one sees in the midwest!

Residents have irrigation schedules when the canals are opened to dump water into their area.

This is the park side of the canal on the way back where there's also a huge "wash". When the rain comes in AZ it really pours so there are holding basins and washes all over to accomodate the overflow water.

We probably rode about 5 miles which is no big deal but my unused muscles really felt the activity. Guess I'd better keep moving every day!

Posted by Joan at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were taking our afternoon bike ride around the park and while scoping out each motorhome and park model (voyeurism) I noticed that one motorhome had a large TV sitting on the dashboard. We went around the block and came back to look at this again. BLAM! The light bulb went off. We could do that too!

Most motorhomes have the TV above the dashboard in the center, so when you watch you have to look up, get a crick in your neck, while watching a small, cheap TV. Our "noname" 19" TV picture never matched our Bose sound system. We've plotted and planned about how to remodel to fit in a new, modern TV in the same spot. In fact, we've looked at new motorhomes and would only consider one of the few that has the TV down at eye level. We couldn't find an acceptable solution but suddenly here's a new idea.

We came home from our bike ride, started measuring and considering all the issues, spent hours on the Internet checking out the specs for the TV we'd like. Then, armed with a packet of printed specs from Crutchfield.com we went to Circuit City. Thirty minutes later we walked out with our Sony Bravia 26" flat panel wide screen TV. Now, why did we never think of this before?!?

From box to dashboard took about 10 minutes and with a flick of the remote power we entered a new world of TV viewing. It is so clear, bright, sharp and colorful! And there's no glare or reflection on the screen. We immediately started pulling out favorite movies to see how they looked on the new screen. All I can do is keep saying WOW!

Here's before with the TV at ceiling level:

Here's the Sony minutes after we turned it on:

Today's project for my handyman is to upgrade the cabling and get it out of sight. We're now viewing TV through Monster Cables. Later, when we're parked in CA for a few weeks he'll tackle taking out the old TV and filling the space with an oak bookshelf. You may ask what will happen to the TV when we drive. We think Mr. Sony will be pretty happy sleeping on the SelectComfort bed. We just don't know which number will be best for him.

Posted by Joan at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like I said, every park/resort has it's own ambiance and here's an unusual aspect of this one. The back "yard" of each park model is 3-5 feet so as you look down this line of homes you see an 8-10' backyard area which is a a whole little society.

The layout is that a park model has a storage shed on the back line attached by a little breezeway so people come out back to put out garbage, get tools, clean off something, hang out laundry and start talking to their neighbors. Pretty soon the chairs come out and people are sitting knee-to-knee chatting and collecting rays. This is where the guys collect to talk male macho stuff like tools and construction. Some people even have tiny gardens in boxes in their backyards.

This reminds me of when we lived in Lindenhurst and everyone worked very hard on their green lawns but where did they wind up talking, drinking beer and smoking?....in the garage of course!

Posted by Joan at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We enjoyed our "no frills" Thanksgiving dinner...turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberries, pumpkin pie and huge blobs of fresh whipped cream. I've carried my KitchenAid mixer for 2.5 years just to whip cream 3 times. I could save a lot of weight if I gave up that luxury! It's quite a production to bring this feast to the table when I only have 2 feet of counter space. But with help from my assistant chef we pulled it off.

Our neighbors all had friends in for afternoon feasts and by 7 pm the whole party was over. We listened to our music, watched Forever Young with Mel Gibson and had champagne and wine to accompany our feast. We had to maintain a certain level of "white noise sound barrier" to over come the boisterous crowds around us!

Now, on the day after, it's nearly noon and all we've had is grapefruit and coffee...still full from yesterday.

Posted by Joan at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a hard day working on motorhome maintenance, waxing the exterior and cleaning carpets, I said to Jim...what'll it be? Soup or Organ Stop Pizza? Of course we chose Pizza.

No stop in Mesa would be complete without spending one evening at Organ Stop Pizza. Check it out! It's a 2-story huge restaurant with picnic style tables and benches surrounded by the pipes and instruments of the Mighty Wurlitzer. The organ is on a hydraulic platform that is raised and lowered in a pit so when the organist starts the set the organ rises up to 8' above the floor.

I've written about this before but the thing that so impressed us tonight was the international, eclectic, all-ages audience that was thoroughly enjoying the old standards, polkas, marches and the patriotic medley. I know that our family would have a great time here. The final patriotic song was our National Anthem and would you believe that the entire audience stood, sang and cheered...in the middle of a pizza and beer supper.

Posted by Joan at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every park has its own personality and you can see that this is different than our usual stop. Mesa Regal is probably the most friendly place we've stayed. We've been here five days and already been to two morning coffees. One was for all park residents from South Dakota so we claimed our statehood and enjoyed the donuts. This morning we had the block coffee next door with about 15 people. The guy next to me said that in the last five years they've had 8 of the men die leaving widows who come back each year.

This is a "snowbird" park where half the lots have park models (single wide mobile homes with patios and sunrooms.) People leave the northern states in November and head down here for six months. Most of the folks we met this morning own the park model and pay $300 per month for space rent. We met two couples who are also fulltimers. It's nice to ride down the street and know a few faces.

Saturday was "pass the junque" day. The next doors had a table out on the patio with various kinds of knick-knack stuff and they didn't even want money...take what you want...and none of it moved. So Isobel says she'll give it to the Mexicans.

We found our Thanksgiving turkey yesterday after measuring a few. He's 6" high and weighs 11 pounds. People look at us kind of funny when we measure the turkey but that's the only way to know if it will fit in the oven!

Posted by Joan at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're back in Mesa AZ after about 18 months and the place is still growing. We arrived at 2:30 and rush hour had already started! We decided on Mesa Regal RV Resort this time, using our Passport America and Coast to Coast discounts. So 2 weeks is costing us $182 compared to $225 for 1 week in CA.

This place is so civilized we even have a beauty shop and cafe onsite! We had burgers for supper sitting beside the pool, temp was about 75. Very relaxing. If we were here for a couple of months I could take advantage of classes in scrapbooking, leathercraft, silver making, etc. It's quite amazing what these "snowbird" parks have to offer the residents. But for me, my travelin' feet get itchy and I'll be ready to move in a couple of weeks.

Posted by Joan at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's our site at the KOFA resort in Yuma, AZ. KOFA stands for King of Arizona which was a mining company in the area. This is an Escapees co-op park where you can lease a 45x75 lot. You can see the lease-holders storage in the background. They put the lot in a rental pool when they're not there.

We've been in Yuma before and it could be one of our longer winter stops. I read that Yuma is the 3rd fastest growing city in the country and it's really expanded since we were here about 18 months ago. For 8 months of the year the weather is great...all this week we'll be 85 high, 60 low. June - September though the average high is over 100...must be a ghost town here then.

We are about 8 miles from the town center, in the boonies of agriculture and irrigation. Yuma has a large water allocation, of which they use only about 50% which is another reason for the area growth.

We had our post office adventure today. We stood in line at the PO for 10 minutes and then found that they did not have General Delivery so we needed to go to the main PO on the other side of town...10 miles the other way. After 20 minutes in that line we got our mail. Yeah! It's impossible to tell on the Internet which PO in a town is the main one. Last time through I guessed right. Wish I'd looked at my old records!

We were entertained during this wait by an older lady (80 but she could have beat me out at a race) who had worked at the PO for 35 years. She had recently retired and I think she just was there to sit and complain about the poor service since she left. We listened politely to her litany of complaints against the government, education and immigrants then asked her how to get to the nearest Wells Fargo.

We had a tasty dinner of store broasted chicken, buttered green beans, white wine, ice cream and a movie...My Cousin Vinny. We're now into a few select songs from our 6000 song collection. What a life!

Posted by Joan at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We moved from Santee, CA to Yuma, AZ today. The first half of the drive was climbing up to 4100 feet then coasting down to sea level! I didn't realize that the very southern part of CA was so mountainous. The second half was through the flat food basket of SoCal where irrigation brings in four or five crops of veggies a season.

We arrived in Yuma about 2 PM and as usual looked for a gas station to fill up. There's a Chevron on the left. Is there enough room for us? What's the best way in? Well, let's give it a try. Ooops! Damn!

We didn't turn wide enough so the rear wheel of the motorhome went up on a curb and of course the car followed. It wouldn't have been too bad except the curb fell off on the outside so here's the car with both right wheels up on a 6 in. curb. If we continued on through the station the wheels would have fallen down on the right and lord knows what would have happened to the underside of the car.

We tried to unhook but the car was so angled that it was impossible. The only thing to do was to back up and hope the car would just reverse course. How many times we've read that YOU CANNOT BACK UP A TOAD!! Well, walkie-talkies in hand, I guided Jim back, inch by inch, until the car wheels fell back to the left of the curb and on the pavement. It was probably about 2 feet but it seemed like a block. Mind you, all this is happening in a busy gas station, right beside the pumps and I'm standing in the middle of incoming traffic to prevent cars from getting in the way of our operation!

Once the car was on level ground we finished unhooking...I should say Jim aka Hercules unhooked using brute force, a mallet and a steel rod. The "toad" does not like to be unhooked unless it's perfectly flat and perfectly aligned with the motorhome.

When it was all over, we were parked and having a beer, I said to Hercules...you're my hero, you're so strong and tough! Well, says he, what else could I do? It HAD to come off!

Posted by Joan at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We took a bike ride around the lakes and through the different campgrounds. I think the grounds must have been built in stages. The oldest sites are on the lake and most of them are too small for us. Here and there is a spacious site but often with trees. As we rode through this area there was an old guy (older than us!) sitting outside listening to Johnny Cash music from the Ring of Fire album. Two other old guys were sitting by their popup camper talking and watching the cooker. Bet they'd been fishing.

Lots of people come here to fish. I'm not so sure I'd like to eat the catch because the lakes are all reclaimed water. If you can't swim in it or drink it then how can the fish be clean?!

Here's a view of one lake and in the distance you catch a glimpse of campers.

Here's a closer view of the campground on another lake.

We passed a great white heron who "froze" his pose as we went by. Coots and ducks tried to follow us begging for food and when we got home the red-wing blackbirds were lined up on the telephone wires waiting to attack our bird feeder. I feel like I'm in a Hitchcock movie!

Posted by Joan at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While I've been nursing this damn cold for the last two weeks, Jim has been checking projects off the "todo" list. The best one is the completion of a new door to access the undersink cabinet. In case of plumbing needs or items lost in the dark netherlands of the corner, this door will be a body saver. I documented the project.

Here's the starting space, which is on the left under the sink as you walk into the motorhome.

Next step was to frame the door space with 1x2 oak. First glue, then screw.

Then the hole was cut, (looking into the undersink mess) using the frame as a guide, and the oak frame was varnished.

Finally, the door, purchased from Rexhall to match the cabinetry, was hung.

...and voila!...as always a beautiful piece of work by Jim.

Posted by Joan at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We went to the Parkway Plaza in El Cajon today to return the 8 cup coffee pot (got a 10 cupper instead) and Jim had to show me around the 2 story Wal-Mart that is part of the mall. Wal-Mart must have bought out one of the anchor stores and just opened this huge store. I don't think it's double a regular store but it's quite a bit larger. Imagine it has an escalator with a track beside to carry your shopping cart up or down! Our big purchase was 12 rolls of RV toilet paper (can't get low on that special stuff) and then we browsed the cheap DVDs. We picked up RAY and an old Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.

The other anchor stores in this mall are Sears, Penneys and Mervyn's...very unusual.

Posted by Joan at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's our spot at site 202, Santee Lakes. I think it's about 35' x 75' which is pretty large for a campground. There are four sites in each curving row and about 10 rows. The sites are nicely offset so that everyone probably has a pretty good view of the low hills. I forgot to mention that we are very near to Miramar Air Base so we often see formations of jets cruising by. It's a very clean, comfy, quiet spot.

Posted by Joan at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to the mall so I could get a haircut, long overdue. We came home with my hair cut (I call it Sharon Stone short, if only I had her face and body), some See's chocolate candy (good for a cough), a new bird feeder (the word got out and so many birds came the feeder broke), wine, groceries and a new coffee pot.

For you, in your house, you just bring stuff home and add it to the stuff you have. For us, in our 32' cozy motorhome, when new stuff comes in, old stuff must exit. So where to put this new pot which is twice the size of our old one.

For years we have made coffee by grinding Starbuck's beans and pouring water over the grounds into our slim Melita thermal carafe. Great system! Simple, efficient and space-saving. Also smells great and tastes wonderful. No overheated and burned coffee. However, all good things come to an end. They don't make the Melita pot anymore.

So enter new Mr. Coffee with a thermal carafe. We tested the process. Instead of our usual wine for cocktail hour we had coffee and chocolate. (Life's short, eat dessert first.) Tastes great and keeps warm nicely. So OK we'll keep it but now the rearranging begins to find space on the counter (which we have 2 feet of) and in the cabinets for traveling storage. Good thing we're here for a few days because this may become a major cupboard reorganization effort.

Posted by Joan at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When we drove into Sante Lakes Park last Wednesday the guard said we might not want to leave. We had reserved a week, now we're here for two. Last Wednesday I was two days into a cold that wanted to move from nose to throat to nose to eyes, etc. I didn't feel too bad, but just went downhill from there. By Saturday I had laryngitis and Sunday a good deep bronchial cough. It's always the same! Today I'm on the mend, thanks to my "nurse" Jim, and finally I'll be able to enjoy this place.

I think the weather here in Santee is perfect. I checked the averages and the highs go from 68-89 and the lows from 40-60. The "lakes" are actually recycled water from the Padre Dam Water District and are stocked for fishing. They are really more like large ponds but taken together provide lots of water activity. There's a lot of landscaping friendly to birds and the park claims 175 varieties. I put up the bird feeder but only one bird found me so far.

The memorable thing about this park is the coyote party that starts right at sunset. With the time change we start hearing them at 4:45. I swear they sound like they're right outside. The first night I had to open the door and listen because it sounded like people laughing and shouting, then I thought it was cats fighting. It's a really weird sound. It doesn't go on constantly, maybe half a dozen times during the dark hours. People say it's when they catch something to eat they gather to celebrate!

The park has several different campground areas. There are smaller ones on the water with trees, larger ones with ramadas and trees and then huge ones like ours with new landscaping and tiny trees. Mr. Moto, our satellite, loves this. The "loop" we're in is quite full and the snowbirds love it because each site has lots of space.

This morning I had enough energy to do a little something so we packed up the laundry and Jim was going to drive me over to do laundry where I can just sit and read while he vacuumed the house. But the car didn't start! The park ranger gave us a jump, I went to babysit the laundry while my "nurse" cleaned the house....all the while the car is running to recharge.

A new battery was purchased this afternoon and installed with the help of kibbitzing neighbors. The linens are changed, the laundry folded and put away and I finished my book. (There go the coyotes again!)

Santee is about seven miles east of Interstate 15 and 20 miles northeast of San Diego. There's good shopping and services, great weather and friendly people. We still have our sightseeing to do here so who knows...maybe we won't leave.

Posted by Joan at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)