Joan on the Road...of Life

We were home safe and sound last night by 11 PM...but what a trip. Jim and his fellow passengers said is was the bumpiest flight they'd ever been on. It's a little scary coming in over the San Bernardino Mountains with the plane bouncing up and down.

The round trip driving was not too pleasant either. Neither one of us likes to drive at night, especially on the freeways here. You know in CA the traffic is heavier at midnight than it is during the rush hour in Chicago. Traffic never stops here.

Add to the heavy speeding traffic a wind that is gusting at 60 mph.and you have a "fun" drive. As we came through one canyon, going downhill, a gust hit us that slammed the car and moved it up and over. I know that sounds crazy ....and scary. We noticed lots of trucks on the roadside. Probably the drivers just said "the heck with it" and took a nap! We had a tumbleweed as high as the car bounce off the passenger side and lots of flying palm fronds went by. It was one of those Santa Ana wind drives when you expect to see a back yard storage shed go flying by.

But now all is well. After we sipped a little "Jack" and had a few chocolates we packed it in and then slept in. Things are back to normal. Funny thing...our little park here in Hemet did not experience any of this wind. It's blowing like a banshee all around us but peaceful and quiet here. Location is everything!

Posted by Joan at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well I hope this ends well later this evening. Jim just called from Chicago and he's leaving 2.5 hours late. We were getting really nervous because there is Naaaaasty weather headed to Chicago. Rain, sleet, snow, wind...yikes. Get outta town!

It's been a crazy trip for Jim. When he went through security yesterday and took his shoes off, they fell apart! He doesn't wear those dress shoes too often. The nice security people found some packing tape so he could tape his shoes up and be on his way.

Today the eye appointment went well and there actually seems to be a bit of improvement in his sight so that is very encouraging. And it looks like we might find a good doc in Long Beach.

So when the eye appointment was done Jim walked a few blocks in the rain to Old Orchard shopping center where he bought new shoes....AND socks. Seems the packing tape wasn't waterproof so he sloshed into the shoe department :) Poor baby!

In a couple of hours...7 PM...I'll take off for OC airport which is 70 miles away to pick him up. With luck we'll meet up in a timely manner and be back home in Hemet about midnight. I have my fingers crossed!

Posted by Joan at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday I was working on the computer playing around with pictures when I looked out the window and this was my view...

Of course, I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots. We RVers are always looking for the perfect sunset shot (or if we're energetic, the perfect sunrise :).

One of the things I was working on was looking at websites that "buy" stock photos. My son-in-law mentioned a couple that he uses and encouraged me to submit some shots. But, Oh Well....they're looking for 4.0 megapixels and my shots come in just under that. Hmmm....maybe that means a new camera is needed :)

I'm always looking for lazy, easy ways to make a few extra bucks and photos or writing seem like a good path. But I'd need to get "serious"...and I doubt I'm ready for that. "Serious" means schedules, commitment, focus, alarm clocks...nah!

Today Jim flew to Chicago for another eye treatment with Lucentis. He'll be back tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll soon be able to find a doctor in CA or AZ who is up on this treatment so we have more options. The treatments seem to be stabilizing his condition. Wouldn't it be awesome if he'd see improvement?

So the cat's away and the mice are being naughty eating chocolates, watching TV, not making the bed, taking a nap. Actually, I just feel like a fish out of water when my other half is not here. In this cozy RV life we live like two peas in a pod and when one is gone the other rattles aimlessly around the pod. Lucky me, it's only one day!

Posted by Joan at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The table was beautifully set, the aroma of turkey and dressing filled the air. And then along came Mary with holiday placemats for everyone! They're double sided with Christmas motif on one side, Thanksgiving on the other. The little pockets are for silver and there's a space to autograph and personalize!

So the table was reset and everyone rushed to put the food out.

We filled the wine glasses with Pinot Grigio from St. Clair Winery in Deming, NM. Tom and Renee provided Mr. Butterball and everyone else brought side dishes. After hours of preparation the bowls were empty in about 30 minutes. Renee and I agreed that after all the work the actual eating is kind of a let down...it goes so fast!

Evan had a sample of everything but refused the feast and only wanted PBJ as usual. After kitchen cleanup and a few short naps we had a pie fest. Mary made her traditional Pear Pie, Bryan contributed the Pumpkin and Son Jim made Apple Strudel and Apple. I think we made a huge dent in all four pies.

Just when I thought the party was over, Mary set up her karaoke and the energy level rose. Wow! These kids know lots of songs. Evan got into the swing of it, grabbed a mike and was singing something but we couldn't figure out what! He was doing some foot stompin' and butt swingin' too. The great grandparents (that's us) finally got to sing when they played "Sweet Home Alabama".

We headed for home but the party continued. Evan stayed overnight with his Grandma and Grandpa and then I joined them on Friday for a "playday" with Evan. We Grandmas enjoyed taking him shopping and hearing all the "what a cute baby" comments.

So the party's over! Let the Christmas countdown begin!

Posted by Joan at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, Happy Thanksgiving Day to you all!

My list of "thanks' is very long but at the top of the list I'm thankful for our wonderful family and for our good health. If there is one thing we've learned in our fulltiming it's that without good health life is really tough.

Today our family goes over the river and through the hills to Renee and Tom's where we'll all bring our food offerings and sit down for a fabulous feast. One piece of trivia is that we'll dine at a table that belonged to my great grandmother. To Baby Evan that would be seven generations. Wow!

I think there will be 14 of us and the only thing could make it better would be if our Laura and Steve and my parents could be with us also. This will be Evan's first "up to the table" holiday. I wonder if he'll try the feast food or if he'll dump it on the floor and wait for peanut butter and jelly!:)

I hope you enjoy your family, food and fun and please say a special thanks for those who are away from home protecting our freedom.

Posted by Joan at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been here in Hemet, CA for six days and have had lots of quality family time with more to come on Thursday. On Saturday I had a little play time with Evan, who is now 14 months old. Then we went to daughter Renee's to visit and enjoyed her homemade spaghetti for dinner. Evan was the center of attention...all adult. He is quite an entertaining character and seems to know it. I could bore you with lots of stories but I'm sure you have your own cute babies :)

Sunday and Monday I collapsed. I couldn't seem to get enough sleep. I had no energy, didn't even want to read. I thought maybe I was getting sick. Now I think it's just that I'm having trouble adjusting to "settling down" for awhile. We have traveled about 6000 miles since June. Often we'd stop for a week or so but always in the back of my mind there was another move in the near future.

Now the next move is 2-3 months away. Jim and I kept saying to each other..."when we get to Hemet we'll do (this or that thing)". We should have made a list. Now we're here and we think we have tons of time so gosh...we don't have to do anything today!

I told people that when we stopped in Hemet I would try out the "activity" life of a snowbird park. But I haven't wanted to get into any of that either. So OK...enough whining! Today I did the laundry and checked out all the activity areas. I could be "doing" something from 8 AM to 7 PM. Swimming, artsy-fartsy stuff, dancing, cards, volleyball, shuffleboard, bike riding. I chose to read another book :) It's kind of a culture shock thing...on the move, on the move, on the move then BAM...stopped. I'll have to see what tomorrow feels like. Right now there's a book waiting for me.

Posted by Joan at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've been collecting hugs since we arrived here in Hemet and tonight was a very special one from Great Grandson Evan. He remembered us well enough that we got real nice hugs from him. How special that is :)

He is really on the move and was into every nook and cranny. You can imagine that we are not kid-proof! And since we have no baby toys he had to make do with measuring cups, keys, bags and remote controls. He seemed happy with that.

We had a light supper of cold chicken and Macky Cheese but he wanted none of that. Mom, Naomi, gave him peanut butter and jelly. He was happy! Sounds like his Auntie Laura :)

Last night Renee's family and Mary visited so we just have three more Grandkid hugs to collect and our hug bank will be replenished.

Posted by Joan at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comfort food for the brain is a good book and sometimes one is so good that I hate to finish it. I'll read a couple of pages and put it down just to prolong the good reading feelings. Yesterday afternoon I finally closed Dream West by David Niven. I've been reading this historical novel about John Charles Fremont since somewhere in Texas. It was wonderful to be reading about the exploration and opening of the West as we were driving through it! Also it was interesting to read about the political climate and chaos of the 1800's while we were being deluged with politics for our November elections. It's a good read and recently released in paperback. Of course mine came from a Goodwill store somewhere...maybe Wisconsin.

Comfort food for the tummy is another thing. I love it when a quick and easy recipe is also a comfort food...yummy, filling, probably bad for you :) Spanish Rice is one of those old, tasty dishes that I got out of the habit of making and recently rediscovered. I made this for a pot luck recently and it was gone before we got in line to it. Yesterday, being the laid back, catch our breath day that it was, seemed perfect for Spanish Rice. And I love it when I can put the dish together, set it to cooking, pour a glass of wine and relax while it finishes up. If you'd like to try it just Download file.

It serves six. After Jim's third helping, cleaning out the skillet, he said in a very heavy accent, "Hey, this first time in weeks I get enough to eat ."

Posted by Joan at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm still smiling from the surprise welcome we received when we arrived here at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet.

We had decided to drive straight through from Fountain Hills, AZ to Hemet, CA, 340 miles, rather than taking two short days. So we set out at 8:30 AZ time and had a very good although boring drive until we hit Palm Springs. I guess there's a reason for the thousands of ugly wind turbines covering the landscape in Palm Springs. We had gusts that pushed the coach around plus the continual trucks passing....not a pleasant drive.

But it was just about 40 miles of nastiness and then we headed over a low mountain pass and the winds calmed. Coming into Southern CA on Interstate 10 is probably the easiest way in. No 5000' passes to climb and descend just winds blowing trying to keep you out :)

We arrived in Hemet about 3 PM and when I checked in the girl gave me a big smile. I thought...well guess they're glad we're here. I got all the paperwork, we unhooked the car and headed for our site. As we approached our site I saw a car parked in the space we use to turn around in and I thought, "Now who's the jerk sitting in that spot...wouldn't you know!" And then the guy hops out of the car with a sign...WELCOME BACK JIM AND JOAN!

Our wonderful son, Jim, was here to greet us! He had looked back on my blogs to see what time we usually arrive, stopped at the desk to find our site and tell them he'd be waiting there (but don't tell my mom) and then sat and waited for us for an hour. He loves to set up surprises and he really pulled this one off.

We got parked quickly and as Dad got out of the coach son Jim played "Hail to the Chief" on his car stereo! Cracks me up! I wish I'd thought to take some pictures but I was too focused on hugging Jim.

We got set up and visited for awhile then Jim treated us to dinner at Appleby's. It was a memorable welcome "home" to CA. Now we are looking forward to fun times over the holidays with all the CA families :)

Posted by Joan at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday was a cloudy but pleasantly warm day so we set out to walk the trail in the afternoon. You can see for miles and here's a view of The Fountain in Fountain Hills which is about 10 miles away.

We noticed that the Teddy Bear cactus had lots of little babies laying around. My hunch is that these "seeds" are waiting for rain to scatter them and get them growing...or they latch onto some unsuspecting helper like me! One of these little balls attached itself to my tennis shoes and I had to get out the tweezers to pull the spikes out :)

After about a mile I was looking for a park bench but the only thing around was this old Saguaro. Later I realized this was probably not a smart place to sit :)

As we returned to the campground we stopped where a group of people were watching this guy cross the street.

All the locals said that this tarantula is harmless...in fact is desirable to have in your yard because he'll eat the "bad" insects. Guess it depends on your point of view. I thought ...geez, he might have been resting in that dead Saguaro! To give you perspective, he's about the size of the palm of your hand and headed away from me. Good thing!

It wasn't a good sunset night, too cloudy, so we started our campfire early, had some snacks and roasted dogs over the fire. The evening ended with a DJ session that lasted til 10 and by then we were falling asleep to the sound of Andrea Bocelli. Life in the desert is tough.

Posted by Joan at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, I forgot to show you this. Do you think the stripe painter had a hangover? ;)

We had about 25 miles of this on I-10 in New Mexico. A bit confusing :)

From Benson Escapees Park to McDowell Regional Park in Maricopa County AZ was 195 miles. We took US 77 to 79 out of Tucson and had a nice drive up to Mesa. It's like driving through a cactus garden. For lunch we stopped at our favorite rest area where there's a Tom Mix memorial. It is so much more relaxing to drive these nice "red" roads than the freeway, especially from Tucson to Phoenix.

We arrived at McDowell about 2:30 and were surprised at how full the campground was. We did find a very nice site, facing Northeast which is great. That way the patio gets morning sun and afternoon shade. We also have our own Saguaro cactus sentinal. I think he's guarding us. Here's a view of site 15...

There are about 75 sites here with 30/50 electric and water. This is one of our favorite "secluded" parks. Now to us that means that we are far enough from the city for quiet but close enough for wine and gourmet groceries :). The nearest town is Fountain Hills which is a pretty upscale suburb of Phoenix. But as we drove around today while getting groceries Jim said he thought it's a bit too hilly for us. Guess we're flatlanders.

I think I have a very sensitive balance and level mechanism in my head because all the rockin' and rollin', ups and downs, hills and mountains, sometimes gets to me. My stomach gets a little unbalanced and I need a day of absolute stillness. Probably sounds a bit screwy but that's how I felt today. Just let me be still for awhile.

So we had a nice steak dinner, glass of wine, great outdoor fire and now we are cozy and quiet.

Posted by Joan at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's funny to me that when we hit a new state line the geography changes dramatically. New Mexico to Arizona goes from flat to mountains very quickly. Of course, there are mountains in NM but at the border there are a couple of long ranges and the road becomes more hilly and curvy. It was a good drive today from Deming to Benson, AZ.

We stopped at the Escapees Saguaro Co-op in Benson and are pleased with the huge sites and the facility. This Escapees park has a homey, spacious feel and might be a place to lease a spot but the waiting list has about 400 people. Anyway it's too far from family for any long term stay :)

We arrived early here so I had time to do some laundry. Jim fixed a light supper and we relaxed watching The Verdict with Paul Newman on FMC. When it was over we wanted to look at the credits a little closer so Jim grabbed the remote and tried to stop it and replay. Guess we're a little punchy :)....that doesnt' work when we're watching TV.

My Aunt Jean sent me an interesting web link today...Let's Say Thanks. Check it out. You might want to participate :)

Posted by Joan at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a short walk through the botanical garden here at Rock Hound where we saw this Cow Tongue Cactus, we went on a little wine tasting tour....so no more pictures :)

First stop was St. Clair Vineyards where we took a "flight" for $3 each. That meant a choice of 6 wines per person. We had fun and were there kibbitzing for a couple of hours. We picked out the Thanksgiving dinner wines and a few others. Also picked up a couple of snacky items including a Chipotle Sauce for chip dipping which we'll save for our Thursday feast. I enjoyed the Champagne Kir and Mimosa but our fave is still the red Nebbiola which is like a Beaujolais.

Then we went on to Luna Rossa Winery. We missed the turn and wound up on the freeway and had to go about 10 miles before we could turn around and go back to take the right turn! We enjoyed our wine server's conversation and walked out with a few more bottles. We are stocked up!!

New Mexico wines are pretty good but available only in the state or I guess you can buy online if you're in the right state. We look forward to coming through here to sample these smooth wines. Check them out if you're looking for a relaxing afternoon.

Posted by Joan at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a lazy start to the day we decided to take a short walk so I could get a picture of the campground from up higher. Maybe you can see Mr. Blue right in the middle with Mr. Moto pointing to the sky here in Deming, NM.

Good thing we took water because it was a pretty walk and we kept going. Along the way there were benches to sit and rest because it was a constant uphill. At one bench we sat for a minute until I realized we had a few wasps buzzing around. I looked down and saw this...about 8 x 12 x 4 inches. You can see one little guy going in his cell. We moved on!!!!

Jim was trying to be helpful by keeping the trail clear but he had a hard time with this one :)

I felt really good about completing the mile and a half walk. I need the exercise and I didn't really feel too bad at the end. I'm encouraged to do this regularly.

Laziness continued through the afternoon. I downloaded Google Earth and got lost virtually traveling the world. Thanks to the seminar I took in Kerrville from Jim Guld I was able to move through the program easily. Thanks Jim!

A glass of wine with the sunset show capped off a good day.

Posted by Joan at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is one chunk of our 180 degree view. How far? I don't know ...maybe 40-50 miles. Of course all our blinds are up and we are surrounded by this rugged beauty. The wind is howling right now as the sun warms up the earth but that will die down soon. Birds are flitting in and out of the ramadas where they have nests and we have our own little cactus garden surrounding us. And we're ready for our first cup of coffee!

Posted by Joan at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The twists and turns of US 70 took us through high plains, forested mountains, white sands and desert.
Here we're on our way to the Apache Pass at 7500 feet.

The highway was excellent and the scenery beautiful and varied. The sight that made us gasp was coming down from the pass and suddenly seeing the White Sands Proving Grounds spread out below us. I took a couple of pix but they just don't do the scene justice. As we reached Alamagordo we found a smart pistachio farmer who had RV and picnic parking at his gift shop. We were really ready for the stop and bought some treats.

We arrived at Rockhound State Park, south of Deming NM, about 3 PM. We only averaged about 40 MPH today because of the ups and downs in the mountains. We were amazed to find the campground nearly full (it only has 25-30 sites. Luckily we got a great spot, up high, so we have a beautiful view that goes on for miles. The campground is on the sloping hillside of the Florida mountains at 4500 ft. On the east we have the rugged mountains looming and to the west the wide open spaces.

At 5:30 were were treated to the setting sun show that New Mexico is famous for. So imagine you're sitting here with your glass of wine listening to the evening birds and watching this everchanging show.

Posted by Joan at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We started with the UFO Museum and spent a couple of hours there.

The Roswell Incident occured in 1947 when supposedly a space ship crashed in a farmer's field north of town. But we don't really know what happened because all evidence is either gone or concealed or never existed, depending on what you believe. You can learn more by just searching on the web for "Roswell Incident".

The museum has an overwhelming amount of written information, news clippings, affadavits and pictures which make me think that 'something' happened and that the government covered it up. There are too many military briefings, press conferences and documents for it to be an entire hoax. But we'll never know.

Here's what it looks like inside. Each section displays one aspect of the incident and investigation.

There's a very extensive research library that includes newspapers, magazines, videos and books relating to UFO's and extraterrestrial life.

Over lunch at Martine's Capitol Cafe we agreed that something happened and the military stepped in to keep it quiet. But I think it was our own experimental aircraft that landed and we didn't want our secret craft publicized. And of course now it is very touristy and funky. Lots of junky gift shops and gimmicks. Who knows where the truth of it is?

We then toured the Roswell Art Museum because we thought they had some Wyeth paintings...but they were not by the N.C. or Andrew so not what we expected. The museum does have a wonderful display of American Indian and Western artifacts such as clothing, jewelry and utensils. I was impressed by the display of artifacts dating to 200 B.C. I'm reading a book about Western exploration so it was very interesting to see all of this.

Our tour ended about 2 PM. We picked up a few groceries and then came home to sit outisde and enjoy the lovely New Mexico weather. They advertise 300 days of sunshine and we've got a whole week of them ahead.

Posted by Joan at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two days of ho-hum driving and we've landed at Town and Country RV Park in Roswell, NM. We did 200-250 miles each day. Thursday was all I-10 Freeway and cloudy. Today was all US 285 in the sun.

Here's what Kerrville, TX to Fort Stockton, TX looked like...

And here's a sample of Fort Stockton to Roswell, NM...

I have hundreds of beautiful scenic shots and hundreds of somewhat boring ones. But to me, when I look back at all the shots in order I can almost relive the day and recall things we joked about or troubles we had. The RVer life is not all about the awesomely grand views we have. It's also about the everyday, mundane scenery that makes up the tapestry of the country.

The cloud cover at the Fort Stockton KOA was really unique. It looked like the clouds had been scalloped with a frosting knife.

Today we saw a lot of oil fields and aged boom towns. We drove through Pecos but it looked too tired and dead for anyone to be doing the Pecos Promenade. This West Texas area was one of the largest oil reserves but now there's not too much activity except the short pump heads bobbing up and down.

We landed here about 1 PM (forgot about the time zone change)so we had time to scope out the Roswell Visitor Center and get the lay of the land. We spotted the Pecos Pleasures Wine Tasting Room and had to stop. $90 later we walked out with some very nice New Mexico wines and a few snacks. We had free wine tasting and a lovely conversation with the wine server. These wines are not sold outside of New Mexico so we don't feel too bad about stocking up on some favorites from St. Clair and Blue Teal.

Tomorrow we'll do a couple of the museums and learn more about the Roswell Incident.... and maybe eat at the Roswell CoverUp Cafe :)

Posted by Joan at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The alarm went off, it was still dark, we rolled over and looked at each other. "You want to go?" "I don't know, do you?" "I could cheerfully stay in bed." "OK, let's stay here another day."

The joy of no schedule! Then we turned on the TV to watch a little news and discovered that half our stations were missing....again! Looked like the LNB went out... again. That's the thingy on the satellite that brings in the TV channels from Direct TV. Calling them is useless. Jim recalled seeing LNBs at Radio Shack so he located one right here in Kerrville, called and they had stock so he ran over and got one. Quick installation and we're back in business.

So staying was fortuitous. I took the time he was gone to vacuum, dust and clean the bathroom. In this small space it's easier to do when alone. Then I took the rest of the day off. I haven't felt really great the last couple of days and I do think it was an allergy to a goose down pillow Jim bought to support his arm/shoulder in bed. We took it back yesterday and right away my head started to clear up.

So I read a book, did a few Sudoku and planned our trip to CA in a little more detail. Most travel days will be about 250 so that's good. And the weather looks pretty good. So...we'll try again tomorrow.

Posted by Joan at 08:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)