The 7 Year Wait is Over

Today Marcia and I started out by driving to Davis Montham Air Force Base to get I D cards. We got about 5 miles from the rig when Marcia ask if she would need her DL, so we drove back to the rig to get it.

We then got to Swan Gate leading onto the base when we were directed to go to the main gate. So we turned around and drove to the main gate and went into the visitors center. We didn't have to wait long until a gentleman ask us to step up to his window, and we explained what we needed. He started filling out papers and then he ask for the tracker registration. Well I had taken it out a few days ago when I was cleaning it out and didn't put it back so we had to drive back to the rig across town. The man did give us a phone number to call to find out exactly what papers we needed to bring with us, and he did warn us that it would be a long time before they answered the phone.

Marcia started calling the number while I was driving us back to the rig, and shortly aster we dot back they answered the phone. It only took about 30 min for them to answer the phone, but when they did the lady said she would call me back after she talked to the VA and got all the information they needed to issue the ID Cards. It wasn't long before she called back and said they had all the information they needed for me, and that I would only need my DL, but Marcia needed several things. We quickly gathered the needed papers and were ready to try it again.

Just before we left my phone rang again and it we the insurance adjuster calling about the roof. He got the owner of Shoreline on three way calling and we discussed the piss pore job they did on the roof. The outcome is that I take it to a shop here in Tucson and Shoreline will pay for it. He will either pay it out of his pocket or he will turn it in on his insurance. So now I need to get estimated and fax them to the adjuster and to the owner of Shoreline.

Now that we had everything we thought we would need we drove back across town to the Air Base. The gentleman we saw the first time at the visitors center called us right up, he finished the paper work and gace us directions to where we needed to be to get our I D Cards made.

Once we got to that building we signed in and went into the waiting room where we watched the last part of "Night at the Museum", and the first part of Indiana Jones before our names were called. The process took about 20 min after we were called, and then we had military I D Cards. (retired)

We spent some time checking out the BX, Commissary, Campground, and the class VI store. We left the base and checked out a couple motorhomes we had seen listed in the RV Trader. Later we met Cousin Bill for dinner, we tried a new mom and pop Mexican joint close to his house. The food was decent, but the service was lacking, mainly due to the waitress not speaking English.

All in all it turned out to be a pretty good day, one that I have been waiting on for seven years now....

Tucson

Sometime last month I had ask Marcia where she wanted to be on her birthday and she said Tucson AZ, well we made to Tucson but we are 9 days late for her birthday. Sorry Marcia!

Tuesday we got up early and left Lake Pleasant. We had a terrific time with Ray and Elen, and hope to see them on the road many more times in the near future. We drove the 150 miles to Tucson AZ where we checked into one of Nick Russell's landing spots where he and Terry are in Tucson.

This is a Pass Port America park and in the book it lists it as $11 for the first night and $15 for additional nights. The $11 turned out to be $12.50 and by the time you added in electric and taxes it turns out to be $18.75 a night, and they will honor the PA discount for as long as we want to stay. $18.75 isn't too bad, but when you expect $11 it makes it sound a lot worse than it is. WHY don't they advertise the price you will have to pay?

When we arrived I was telling the lady checking us in about our friend Nick telling us about the place. I was describing Nick as a little fat guy with a good looking wife that he really doesn't deserve. I really had them going in the office until they said they had never met him. Apparently they have new managers here and the new managers have never had the pleasure of meeting Nick or Terry.

We got the rig set up and then we went to see Pam, we caught her on her lunch break. She had a couple packages for us that we had ask to send our mail to her house, and had ask Corey to send my med to her house. We didn't stay long because we didn't want to distract her from her work, but we will be spending some time there this weekend for sure.

Cousin Bill was next to visit. He is looking good, and being retired is suiting him quite well. We spent a couple hours talking before we left to return to the rig. Tomorrow I will be doing the VA "STUFF" so my patience will be tried over and over I'm sure....

Wheeling in the Bradshaw Mtns

Today Ray, Elen, Marcia and myself went wheeling in the tracker. We too I-17 up to Bumble Bee where we picked up a dirt road that took us through the Bradshaw Mtns. We stopped off in Crown King, a mining town up in the pines. The is a bar/eatery, a souvenir shop, a fire department, and a few houses in this little town. From the stories we heard about the town it really comes alive on weekend nights, with the bar being the main attraction.

We left Crown King following the dirt roads to a place where Ray and Elen spent a couple weeks boondocking. The road he pulled their 5er through wasn't much more than a goat path. Although I didn't have to put the tracker in 4 wheel drive during the trip I did have to be careful and some of the switchbacks were tight in the tracker let alone Rays big dually and a 5er behind it. He really took away all doubt about me thinking he was missing a marbles when he described pulling the 5er across that road.

At one point we stopped to stretch and snap a few pictures and all we could see in any direction was high desert mtns and and area of pine trees called Pine Flats. As you can see in the pictures below there was a lot of nothing all around us.







It was a really fun day and Ray shared some gold mining secrets with us, enough for me to decide that I will leave the gold mining to someone else.

Tomorrow we leave Ray and Elen and will be headed to Tucson to visit family....

Another Day at The LAKE

Today Marcia and I spent the day wheeling around the lake. Ray and Elen had prior commitments so we took off in the tracker looking to find a secluded spot on the lake. Well that isn't going to happen on a Sunday on this lake. There were more boats here, and jet skis than you can shake a stick at.

We drove way back into the desert looking for a place to get to the lake on the back side where most people wouldn't go. I knew boats would be looking for the secluded spots too, so I wasn't surprised when we didn't find the spot, but we did wind up on one of the bluffs over looking the lake and it was beautiful.



A perfect Saguaro Cactus is hard to find except in the movies or in books, but we did spot this one down near the lake from our advantage point on the cliffs.



This is a shot using my 10X zoom from where we had to park the tracker. We ran out of road, or path, as it was, and wound up right at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the lake.



It was an awesome day to say the least....

Lake Pleasant AZ

We are spending time with Ray and Elen here at Lake Pleasant near Phoenix AZ. It is a beautiful lake that you wouldn't expect to see in the middle of the desert, but it is here and there are plenty users and uses of the lake. It provides water for the farmers in the area, and it provides an abundant area for recreation.

This week the temperatures are well above the 100 degree mark and we see so many boats on this lake. Some of the boat I might expect to see in Lake Erie or maybe the ocean, but not on a small lake like Lake Pleasant, but people take advantage of whatever they can.

Here is a picture of our site next to Ray and Elen.



The Lake







Here is a picture of our SPECIAL FRIENDS.



Last night another camp host couple (Dave and Pat) came and joined us at Ray and Elan's for awhile. Pat was telling us about a tag a long trailer that had pontoons built on it so it would float like a houseboat. After hearing about this unique camper we had to go see it since it was hear on Lake Pleasant.



Look close at the wheel in the water under the trailer.



In this shot you can see the tounge that is used to pull the camper.



In this picture you will see it is registered as a trailer (tags) and it has two out board motors on it to push it across the lakes.



I think it is a very unique rig and plenty worthy of being posted on my blog. I just hope my readers enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed seeing it.

We will be spending a few more days with Ray and Elen before heading to Tucson for a few days....

GOOD TIMES WITH OLD FRIENDS

I'm not implying that Ray or Elen are old in years, but they were among the first fulltimers we met in Quartzsite AZ back in January of 2008 when the Escapees Class of 2007 had the gathering, and today we parked our rig next to theirs here at Lake Pleasant outside of Phoenix AZ.

It was really good seeing them again, they are looking good and ray seems to be feeling better. Ray is still on the waiting list to receive a new heart, but his condition has stabilized.

we will be spending the next few days here with them as their guests. Thanks Ray and Elen!!! they will have duties this weekend, but we will have Monday and Tuesday to get caught up, and that will give us time to get some things done at the VA here in Phoenix.

I will try to get some pictures posted soon.....

Last Day @ Lake Havasu

Today was our last day here in Lake Havasu, we have enjoyed the weather even though it is a little warmer than we like it, it beats being cold.

My thoughts on Lake Havasu is that it is a weekend party town. A lot of wealthy people from CA spend a lot of weekends, and spring break here. With the influx of big money coming in on weekends cause the prices to rise.

Marcia called about renting a jet ski, or boat today, and $200 for 4 hours is a lot more than I am willing to pay to ride around in a boat. Boats don't have shocks and they are painful to my back anyway. The jet ski was $140 so we chose to look around town.

It was a good thing we didn't rent the boats because after lunch I started feeling bad so I took a good nap and Marcia played on the net. We have decided to start looking for a newer rig. We are just looking, but if the right deal came across we would buy one.

I did call a friend today to see when would be a good time to visit them. Ray and Elen is a couple we met in 2008 at Q, they are a part of the "Class of 2007". Ray had a very interesting story, and hopefully he will tell it to the world one day. Until he decides to tell it I will respect his desire to let a dead horse be, because I consider him and Elen to be very special friends.

This evening we enjoyed the hot tub here in the park. Tomorrow Am we will pull out of here to join up with Ray and Elen in Lake Pleasant AZ just outside of Phoenix....

Catching up

Last week we pulled into Laughlin NV, at the AVI casino and resort. It was a nice place except our internet was really S L O W . Marcia played bingo Saturday afternoon, and Saturday evening, and then Sunday (her birthday) she started playing at 8 AM and again at 11AM, 1PM, 4PM, and 7PM. She won about $50, and it cost her about $75 to play that many games so all in all it wasn't too bad.

Monday we did the mall and road around the area sightseeing. Not a whole lot going on there, and it was over 100 degrees so everyone was looking for the AC. Marcia went back one more time last night to play bingo, (I really hope she has her bingo fix)

Today we drove the 57 miles to Lake Havasu AZ where we will spend the next couple days. After we got set up we went looking for the Lighthouses. They have a club here that has built and erected scale models of different lighthouses. I think there is about 15 or so on the lake. We found out today the only way to see them all is by boat, so we are thinking about renting a jet ski tomorrow.

I didn't take any pictures so you will have to look on Marcia's blog to see them when she posts them. Tonight we are trying on of the Mexican joints here, and "maybe" tomorrow we will rent a boat and see all the lighthouses....

Get Free internet here

As I said yesterday our Verizon air card is almost worthless here, but we can pick up the parks wifi sometimes. Like now I can post this up using their wifi.

Today started out with me wishing Marcia a happy Birthday around 6 AM and then I went back to sleep until about 8. Marcia had already went to play bingo at the AVI casino. I walked to the casino to wait on her, I had $3 in my pocket.

I saw a $20 bill on the ground and a guy next to it. He walked away and I picked it up and followed him until he stopped. I ask him if he dropped something and he said no after searching his pockets, so I figured I would just donate it to the casino.

I put my 3 and the 20 into Super Jackpot Party, After about 30 minuets I cashed in for $70. I thought YEA this is going to be a good day. Tonight when I walked back to the rig I had $3 in my pocket. I gave Marcia a 20, and paid for our lunch, paid for me two rounds of bingo, and played the slots off and on all day.

So I guess it was a good day! Marcia is playing her last secession of bingo, and when she gets home we will go to the jacuzzi for awhile. I did get a nap in today too so all is good in Laughlin......

Laughlin Nevada

We made it to the AVI casino in Laughlin Nevada today. It was a short ride and we got an early start due to us being in the desert and it getting well above the seventies we are chasing.

We got checked into the KOA campground, (the first KOA we have ever stayed at) at the casino. When we plugged the rig into their electric and turned the AC's on the thermometer said it was 97 in the rig, so boondocking is out of the question.

We will be here for three days and the internet sux here so this will be my last post for the next few days unless Marcia hits the big jackpot. She will start practicing bingo tonight for her marathon tomorrow. Maybe they will be kind and let her win the big bucks on her birthday.

Even though it is a lot warmer here than we like it , it is still better than being cold.....

We left the Beauty of Utah Today

We packed up and said good-bye to Jimmy (and I can't remember his wife's name) SKP's we met at the OK RV Park in Moab. We stopped in Green River to get some melons that Marty had told us about. If Marty had not have shared some that he had picked up there last week we would have never bought that kind of melons.

It was a very scenic drive across I-70, we had to stop several times "to smell the roses" so the saying goes. we had planned on spending the night at the first casino in NV, but I just refuse to PAY to park the rig to go in and make a donation to a casino.

So we are in a Wal-Mart parking lot with several other rigs....

Pictures of hyw 128 and Sego Canyon

Here are the pictures I took today on or ride along the Colorado river, Sego Canyon, and the sunset just north of Moab. remember I was doing the driving so Marcia will have a lot more pictures than I do. I hope you can get a glimps of the amazing things we are getting to see.

GREAT NEWS ARRIVED TODAY

Today Marcia and I drove the tracker up hwy 128, a scenic drive along the Colorado River, from Moab to I-70. Once we got on I-70 we headed west to Thompson Springs and then up into Sego Canyon. After we drove up the dirt road to the top of the mtn we turned back and headed back to the rig.

Hwy 128 was another awesome drive with scenery that just puts you in awe. Up the dirt road we saw several abandoned houses from way back when, and a few old mine shafts. We saw pictographs from way back when. It was so amazing to see the sights we saw and to think about all we have seen in the past week is just unbelievable.

I keep thinking about a time when we were in NYC and ask a lady for directions to the Statue of Liberty, and she explained that she had not been out of a 10 block area of NYC in her life, and she was a lot older than I was. We as full timers are really blessed with the opportunity to see so much. And I am thankful for the internet so I can share these sights with everyone that reads my blog.

Tonight Marcia was driving out of town to see the sunset. Here in Moab there is a mountain to the west so sunsets are obstructed. On the way I got a call from our son, he was reading a letter to me that I received from the VA. The letter said the VA granted my unemployable status, and I would be receiving back pay.

I really don't want to get too excited about it because letters from the VA need to be interpreted by a lawyer to understand them. So after we watched the sunset we drove back to the rig where I got online and checked my bank statement. The VA deposited a healthy check into our account yesterday, so I guess we were right in the way we read the letter.

Tomorrow I will have to call my VA rep back in Louisville to find out what the scoop really is, but as I always say, "a deal is not a deal until the Green hits the Mahogany", and it looks like the GREEN HAS HIT THE MAHOGANY.

I will post the pictures from today later, after the shock wears off......

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

Today we left Ken's Lake and Marty to find propane and water. We found propane at a Shell station and full hookups at the OK RV Park just south of Moab. Once we got all set up I drove the tracker back the 8 miles to pick up Marty so we all could ride through the Arches National Park.

Once in the National Park we were in awe at all the beautiful rock formations. We saw so much and so many neat things I won't waste my time or yours with trying to explain the sights. I'll just post the pictures for you to enjoy, just remember the pictures don't really do this place justice.



























I hope you liked the pictures, they tell the story a lot better than I could....

On into Utah

With the temperature at 42 this morning we decided to head for a lower altitude. Moab UT was our destination. We stopped off in Cortez and filled the gas tanks, and I posted the pictures from yesterday. Then it was the 100+ miles to Ken's Lake which is a CG on BLM Land just south of Moab.

We saw some beautiful sights along the way, (you have to check out Marcia's blog for the pictures because I was driving)( ) I am amazed at how God could create so many beautiful places, and them be so rugged, but I guess that is why we call him God.

We arrived at Ken's Lake and Marty was there to greet us. It sure is good to see him again. We went for a ride in the tracker after we got set up, I just had to see what was on the other side of the mountain to our east. Well it was just more of what we see here except there was a creek running on that side.

It was just as beautiful as this side, and the heavy rains last night here had the creek running harder than normal, it had washed all kinds of sand into the roadway at the creek crossings. They had to get a front end loader to clear the washes in the CG, and the ones on the other side of the mtns hadn't been cleared and I was too chicken to take the tracker through them so we returned to the rig. Marcia and Marty was really glad I didn't attempt to cross the creek.

We grilled some steaks, baked some potatoes, roasted some corn, and chowed down on some kind of Mellon. With our bellies full and the sun setting we all decided to turn in for the night. Tomorrow will be another day..

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy....