We're near Yuma for a few days...

Our view for the next few days...

We decided yesterday to go ahead and move down the road about 70 miles or so and look for warmer weather.  We're back near Mitry Lake and the LTVA area where we were last year.  It is a lot warmer, windy too! It's ok though, the way we have the trailer positioned it blocks a lot of the wind.  Supposed to be about 80 degrees here on Tuesday.  We're not sure how long we're staying, but we know we'll be back here for Super Bowl on Sunday as we've got good tv reception (haha)..

We paid $40.00 for a 14 day stay.  The $$ includes several other LTVA areas so we don't just have to stay at this one.  Here, they have potable water and dump stations.  We're thinking that we'll probably use the 2 weeks and then start heading back towards home.  WE'll have stops at Lake Havasu and Parker, AZ on the way.  Take care of some business (taxes, Dr appt) and then get ready to head towards TN. 

This morning we're heading to town and Walmart and then to check out 1 or 2 of the other LTVA's.  (Long Term Visitor Area)...

Leaving Quartzite yesterday..the top
of the BIG TENT

Yuma Proving Grounds on our way
to our camp

Well it's Saturday....

We've been here since Wednesday afternoon.  Sure is a lot warmer than home but not as warm as last year.  The difference here is we can be outside where at home there's no way.  We've been watching the weather and it's still running in the teens in the am and high 20's in the afternoon..so guess we'll enjoy the clear skies and lots of sunshine. 

Our piece of Heaven in the background...

Shielded from the wind....

Interesting...don't ya think?

Some groups like to be close together...

We are parked at a FREE LTVA known as La Polosa North.  We are about 6 miles out of town.  There is another one of these about a mile closer, but oh so much more crowded!  The weather this morning is so gorgeous.  No wind!  That's been the biggest obstacle, the wind! When it gets too windy, we just come inside...no problem.  We love the windows in the Jayco, so we're still able to enjoy the view.  

Earlier this week we took a morning and headed into town to visit "The BIG Tent"...ok, been there done that, never again! haha..bunch of overpriced vendors and very pushy.  WE've taken a couple of drives through some of the other LTVA's just too be nosy.  Gotta say, there's a lot of money in this area. People retired well! 

The BIG Tent

Yesterday we took a drive over to the little community of Bouse, AZ.  Beautiful 20 mile drive there and then back.  Found a dirt road named Sunkist and took that to Quartzite so that was fun.  

Ken bar b qued a pork roast the other night and one he's going to do tonight.  
Bryan had a tree fall on the corner of the house the other day...but he got it all taken care of...

The tree took out the fence going to the back (side) yard

That's Adam's bedroom window there...

The tree fallen over looks little from this view..

At this point not sure if we're going to stay here today or head toward Yuma. I like this way of living.  
Looks like we're moving on....

I've got more pics to put on this later today...so check back..

Adam and Raider...that dog is growing fast..

Bouse, AZ the community park..these bring back memories of
Arkansas..geez we'd get so dizzy..and laughing...

Sagauro...

Coming out of our place this morning...

Our fire last night...

Today we're heading for Quartzite ...

Yesterday (Tuesday) we took our time getting going.  Ken cooked some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast..yummy.  I decided to ride along as he was going to Smith's and the bank in Bullhead City.  Figured it was time to get out of the house and some fresh air after the last few days.  

After that we headed over to Davis Dam just to check it out.  Looks like they are doing a nice job of putting together a visitor area, not at the dam but below.  They've got picnic tables, covers and a children's play area complete with a water play area that I'm sure is full of kids in the summer when they say days can get to 120 degrees here.  The road ends here so you can't go to the top of the dam or anything, but still glad we checked it out.  By the time we got back it was too cool to sit outside so we went back inside and watched the news and enjoyed the full hookups! ha..

Laughlin, NV

The road to Davis Dam

Closer view of the dam

Part of the visitor area

Today we set the alarm for 0530 Arizona time, but fell back to sleep until 0630..oh well, we don't have that far to go, but we are slow at getting going.  Guess we are really good at this retirement thing (after 7 years guess we should be)..

We've decided to head for the free camping area of Quartzite this morning (or noon haha)..and spend a few days there before moving on to the LTVA that has access to the dump station etc...we won't need it for awhile so figure we'll try this.  This is the week of the BIG TENT..so hopefully we'll be able to brave the crowds and check it out.  

Bryan had a tree blow down at his house over the weekend, he said between the rain and snow, guess it got too heavy.  No damage, so that's good news. Bryan got it down and all chopped up.   

Ken's brother Dave had one blown over in front of his house and had some people come remove it.

It's 37 degrees now here, which is cold for this area.  21 degrees at home with a high of 35..we'll take this weather.  

Finally...back in the land of the living..I think..

Saturday morning, we decided to run to town and get some good snacks for the playoffs on Sunday.  So we headed for Smith's in Fort Mohave and then toward Lowe's to get some gutter to hold up the sewer hose ( I know, not fun)..but very functional.  

After that it was about 1300 hours so we decided to visit a Mexican place we had been at least once before so we knew the food to be good and reasonable.  It was delicious, although I don't usually order refried beans but forgot to ask for whole beans.  The refried were good, but salty.  After lunch we headed back to camp to enjoy the sunshine, as it was a beautiful afternoon.  By the time I got back, I felt like my lunch was sitting in my stomach like a pile of cement. uhhh..So we decided to get a little exercise and took a 1.7 mile walk to the river and back.  Came inside as it was cooling down and about 1845 I told Ken I was going to bed and that's where i've been till this morning (Tuesday) pretty much. I've never slept so much in my life.  It was horrible.  

Felt bad for Ken and the playoff's as we had all these good snacks planned..I thought I could at least make the homemade clam dip, which takes all of 3 minutes..nope..into the bathroom and back to bed.  I do have to say, today is starting off better..Now to find out what's happened in the world while I've been out!  

We originally were leaving here today and heading further south, but thinking we'll stay another day or two just so we can enjoy the travel. 

Eric threw Christina a surprise 40th Birthday party on Saturday, from what I can see it went really well.  Hopefully they'll post some pictures so I can steal them from FB.  

Looks like a beautiful day here, if not a little cool,56 for the high.. much warmer than Yerington 22 low, 35 high..yep i'll take this. 

A new President..and what to do on a rainy day?

Woke up this morning knowing we wanted to watch the swearing in of our new President Donald John Trump. It was actually a very moving couple of hours and i'm glad we were able to get it here at the campground. 

I love this picture of Abe Lincoln's Bible
and the one Donald's  mom gave him in 1955..

Afterwards we decided to head to Laughlin and the casino area..get a little exercise and some lunch.  We knew there was one brewery in town and since our son, Russell is CEO of Sacramento Beer Enthusiasts we knew we had to pay a visit.  Really nice place on the 2nd floor of the Colorado Belle, hotel and casino.  The bartender we had was awesome! Very personable and good beer.  I'm not much of a beer drinker, I like Corona light, but when it's hot outside and on ice.  Today we're at a brewery, so do what the locals do..The brewery called, Pints looks like you're on the lower deck of a ship..pretty cool.  Prices were right and beer was good. 

What there's a ship docked in Laughlin?!

Oh my goodness..the paddle wheel  part of the ship...

Inside PINTS the brewery..

Golden Ale for me...IPA called "What the Puck" for Ken
totally different but delicious

Inside the brewery..

After that we decided to go get some lunch.  We had stopped on the way to Pints and looked at a couple of menus and decided to try Bumbleberry's in the Pioneer Casino.  So we left the brewery (they did have a menu, but decided we'd try something different).

We got there and they had a nice view of the Colorado River.  There were only a few people in the restaurant so we asked for a river view booth.  She said oh well the other booths are closed and that one hasn't been cleaned yet.  She took us to a booth about 2 steps away, we went back to the beginning and said "we'll wait"..took all of 30 seconds to clear the table.   So we ordered our food, and we waited.  Ken had another beer but i refuse to pay 7 or 8 dollars for a glass of wine..that's probably half full..so I had water, which was fine. We waited and we waited, finally the food came.  By that time there were only 3 others in the restaurant and we were the first.  Geez...The food was good, and plentiful, but really to make a Caesar salad, with dressing on the side and a ham and cheese melt with fries..did it really need to take so long?!  I wish I would have timed it but ridiculous.  She drops the check, never asks if i'd like a to go box, (which I ended up asking for) or would Ken like another beer.?  it's too bad but we'll never go back, as the service was ridiculous.  After we got back I looked at some reviews (because I'm going to write one too) and service was the biggest complaint.  

Downtown Laughlin

So after that we came back to camp and just enjoying our little cozy home. We will leave here Tuesday and continue south...

Jacob had to do this for Back to School night ..
no self esteem problems here!

Don in TN got a drone for Christmas..so he sent us some pictures
pretty cool!

Picture of his cabin and outhouse..

We're on the road...waking up at Armagosa Valley RV Park...

Had a good weekend...Our neighbors invited us out on Saturday for a few drinks in town..so you know how that goes..but it was fun! We don't go out very often and it Yerington it consists of this little bar with a bunch of regulars. 

So Sunday was spent mostly on the couch, watching football playoffs and in-between loading  up the trailer to get gone. 

Monday morning, Joe came over and the three of us went out to breakfast at Dini's.  They've got their good breakfasts on sale this month for $2.99.  Can't beat that.  Said good bye and thank you to Joe and we got out of there about 1/2 later. 

Ken checking out the trailer..It's a teeth chattering 25degrees

About 30 miles from home..notice the snow on the mountains this year

Had a beautiful drive from Yerington to Armagosa Valley 277 miles from home.  Last night we decided to head for Valley of Fire State Park for a few days.  It's not only gorgeous it's FREE camping!  

The way we like to travel..highway 95! 

I think I take this pic every year..lots of snow this year looking over to
Highway 395...Notice the blue skies!

Not sure if the mifi works there so it may be a few days before i update again.  


Posting from Laughlin, NV on 01/19/17....

Well, I guess the above post didn't post and I thought it did...so I am just going to continue from here...

We left Armagosa RV about 1000 hours on Tuesday.  We knew we didn't have a real long day as we were headed for Valley Of Fire State Park just outside of Las Vegas.  We made it there in time to have lunch in our camp spot. Ken unhooked the trailer while I made some of Ree's yummy hummus and veggie wraps for lunch.  We were really surprised as last year there were tons more people camping.  Of course we're a few weeks earlier than what we were last year and that could be the reason.  The BIG TENT event has started in Quartzite so that could be the reason.  Any way we had a lovely evening with a nice fire.  But it was COLD.  Because this park is a State Park, and they have no hookups we stayed for FREE and got our entrance to the park for FREE...We had thought about staying 2 nights but decided that we'd move on to Big Bend of The Colorado in the morning.  

Valley of Fire State Park...

Our campsite..beautiful

Yesterday we got up and got going another pretty short day of travel and we arrived at Big Bend of the Colorado State Park.  We took the scenic route out the west entrance of the park and drove along Lake Mead until the exit near Boulder City.  We stopped between Vegas and here and had lunch in the trailer and then moved on.  

Along the road to Lake Mead

Love the traffic

Lake Mead

Got here early afternoon and I made a few phone calls to see about finding a dentist and have a tooth pulled.  Got an appointment for Thursday with Jennings and Larsen Family Dentristy..After our first night I woke in the morning to half of my back tooth missing..where it went i haven't a clue but it was jagged and was really hurting the side of my tongue.  uhhh...After so many bad experiences as a child and then again as an adult, I hate the dentist. But what ya gonna do.  

Had a nice evening, Ken bar qued some pork chops, I made mashed potatoes and italian green beans for dinner..what a feast!  We had a nice evening and then off to bed as we knew we wanted to get an early start in the morning. 

After a yogurt breakfast we headed out this am and found the dentist office over in Bullhead City.  Made a run to Walmart and then back to the office for my appointment.  Well, it wasn't that bad, a couple of ideas, cap it..file it or pull it.  The dentist and staff were really good!  So the decision was made to file it down, since it was above the nerve.  Quick and easy and i was out of there.  Finished our shopping at Walmart and then took the long way back to camp through Needles CA and the Needles Highway, basically Route 66 from Needles to camp.  

It's been raining off and on all day but we're nice and cozy inside.  We plan on staying here until Monday.  We've got full hookups and tv reception for $10.00 a night.  A lovely, quiet site and beautiful views.  Temps are in the 50's today so a lot warmer than home. I'll get some pics in the next couple of days... 

Lori posted this oldy but a goody..Aaron and Buddy...

Jacob had a basketball game in El Dorado Hills..so his
best fan came out to watch..with a little love sign..way
to go Raegan!

Happy Happy Birthday to my Sister Wendy (who turns 60 today) and to our Daughter in Law Christina who is celebrating her 40th birthday!  Next up is Grandson, Mason who turns 12 on the 31st!