Last day in Yuma area

 

Well it’s the last day here in Rivers Edge RV Resort, things are winding down.  I always have mixed feelings about the transition periods.  Part of me wants to stay because things are familiar, we’ve met some fun people, I feel settled in.  The other part of me is suffering from “Hitch Itch” and wanting to roll on to the next adventure.

It demonstrates how people are more comfortable staying where they are than risking the unknown.  It’s the reason women stay in abusive relationships because no matter how bad it is, you never know what it might be like when you leave.   It’s a constant push-pull but each month it seems to get easier in our tenth month of full-timing.

We’ve accomplished most of our “touristy” activities now and feel ready to move on again.  Yuma is a nice city and has a lot to take in.  We’ve only scratched the surface here and will look forward to visiting it again in the future sometime.

Since I had the table set up inside for the jigsaw puzzle, I figured I might as well put it good use and do some sewing.  I’d accumulated a small stash of fabrics in Mesa and want to try out a quilt pattern I saw in a magazine.  This one will be for my grand-dog, but please don’t tell him… I want it to be a surprise. And if the girls like the way it goes together, I might make one for their new beds.

The pattern is just a square in a square and puts together quite quickly so it would be hard to accomplish.  I’d take the quilt tops to a store to have it quilted for me since that’s too hard to wrestle with in small quarters.  Okay, that’s a cop-out…I just don’t like that part of it and prefer to pay someone else to deal with it on a long arm machine.

I made a visit to the local quilt shop and picked up two southwestern theme fabrics that will be used in a sweatshirt jacket at some point.  I didn’t think I’d have such a need for warm clothes down here, but it can be quite chilly.

Left Brain is off to Mexico on a drug run and I’m doing the laundry.  After I finish up the quilt project I’ll get the machine packed up and we’ll be ready to roll again.

Long Live the Queen of Hitch Itch

Throw aways

I’ve been thinking lately.

Now that we are living in a smaller area it just seemed logical to carry through with keeping a smaller carbon footprint.  So, I’ve attempted to eliminate as much waste as possible.

One of the first things is using fabric shopping bags to cut down on use of the plastic.   There is not an option here that I’ve seen for paper or plastic, it just goes into a plastic bag.   When we had the cats it was okay as those got used for kitty litter cleanup bags.  But with just the two of us the bags seem to grow overnight on their own.

I wish there was a better way to purchase some of the items that come in the plastic boxes, but that just seems to be the way it’s done.  We haven’t found any food co-op type of place yet, so we might have to just live with that. That's the problem with always being on the move, by the time you find something good it's time to depart.

We are living in a disposable society, where things are thrown out rather than be fixed.  I’m from the generation of cloth diapers, but I have to say I enjoyed the disposable ones when the granddaughters were little – much nicer.

While boon docking the plan was to use paper plates to save on washing dishes.  I’ve learned something valuable here.  I hate paper plates.  I would rather wash them rather than eat off the paper ones.

But I have to say that not ALL things disposable are bad.  My favorite thing just happens to be disposable income.

Long Live the Non-Disposable Queen

Dumb Arizona Laws

Every state has their own strange set of rules set in place over the years and they seldom make sense to those out of the region.  Here are a few of the ones in Arizona.

Hunting camels is prohibited.

Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.  This goes back to the days of the Wild West.

There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.

It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.

In Glendale, cars may not be driven in reverse.

In Globe cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.

In Maricopa County, no more than six girls may live in any house.

In Mesa it is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liquor license.

In Mohave County a decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.

In Nogales an ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders.

In Prescott no one is permitted to ride their horses up the stairs of the county court house.

I'm sure there are stupid laws everywhere, but these just tickled my funny bone and I had to share them with you.

Long Live the Lawless Queen

Old fogies and other myths

 

When you hear the term “senior citizen” what comes to your mind?

A lot of that will depend on your age.  I’ve heard it described that “middle age” is when you are at the center of the youngest and oldest person you know.  It’s all about perspective.

For those young whippersnappers hearing the moniker “senior citizen” they probably picture someone drooling on themselves while sitting in a wheelchair wearing depends.  At an earlier point in my life that was probably how I viewed growing old.

My views have changed, or matured, if you will.  The earlier images that shaped my perspective of what it was to grow old were based largely on my home community and family in particular.  This is unfortunate because it gave me a false reading of what the situation could be.  Traveling throughout the south and meeting many other seniors, some more senior than me, have forever altered that viewpoint.

In my family to reach your seventies was to be evading death and by the late seventies and earlier eighties all the fight was gone.  These people (who I’m still not convinced I really belong to) were old before their time.  I’ve often had fantasies of being switched at birth or secretly adopted…there’s no way I could have come from this bunch.

During our travels I have met some delightful people who have eliminated any residual fears of aging that I might have had.  There was Lila, a spritely little woman I had the pleasure of meeting at a restaurant in Quartzite.  She was alive, vivacious and full of fun as she pushed ninety years young.

And if the mental state wasn’t encouraging enough, I recently met two ladies aged 71 and 81 who I had the pleasure of playing pickleball with.  Sure, I was ready to go easy on the old gals…but it wasn’t necessary.  They kicked my partner’s and my butts!  Julia has a serve that is almost unstoppable.

This feisty dynamo of 80 plus years is interesting and inspirational.  She is also an Escapee member and lives full time traveling about the country.  She loves to golf and hike as well as beat up pickle ball players much younger than herself. 

 

In addition to the physical side of her life she is politically aware and follows current events far better than I do.  Meeting someone like this and not getting totally buzzed is impossible.

I always figured I’d have maybe another twenty years left of this life on earth and I’d just take it easy and hope for the best.  Now I see that it can be the best years of my life and there’s no reason not to be physically fit and active.

So I want to give thanks to all my new role models out there who have shown me a new direction for the final chapters of my life and proving that the best is yet to come. 

Long Live the Queen of the Seniors

The Temptations

 

What an unexpected treat to see billboards announcing the Temptations would be appearing at the Quechan Casino near our RV park.  I made Left Brain take me there almost as soon as we arrived to buy tickets for this event. 

I’ve loved this group for years and even though the group has changed often over its history and I didn’t know if there were any original members or not, I just had to go and see them.

The casino is about 10 minutes from where we are staying and we tucked the tickets into the glove box and waited for the big day.

It wasn’t until that Friday night a couple of weeks later that we were sitting around the RV reading our Kindles when I realized that it was that night we were to go!  We almost missed it as we drift along our lazy life being unaware of what day it is.

But we made it there with time to spare and that was a good thing considering the traffic and crowd.  It took a while to find a parking spot and maneuver our way through the casino to the conference room where the concert was set up.  Yup, we’re the kind that can walk through all the dinging and blinking and never feel compelled to put money into a machine. I just don’t get the need for this.

The show started at 8:00 pm, which is usually when we’re winding down and thinking about bedtime but there was no feeling tired with all the jazzed up excitement around us.

 

 

The performance was good and it was great to hear all the oldies I love as well as some of their new hits.  Otis Williams is the only remaining member of the original group.  He is currently 72 years old and has been performing with the Temptations now for 50 years.

 

Long Live the Queen of Soul

Peanuts and other crops in Arizona

Yuma grows 90% of leafy vegetables consumed in the US during the winter. That’s pretty obvious when traveling about and seeing large expanses of growing fields, even in the city limits.  At about 7:00 am we wake to the sounds of the air cannons going off that keep away the birds.

 

In our touristy outings in the Yuma area we are learning many interesting factoids.  The most recent educational opportunity came while visiting The Peanut Patch here in Yuma.

I wanted to be nice and early for the 10:00 tour so we showed up at 9:30.  This was good.  Then I found out we were a day too earlier.  This was bad.  But we didn’t give up and returned the next day at the appropriate time.

I really didn’t have any expectations for this tour and figured it would be yet another ploy for selling goods in the gift shop.  Things are always best when you aren’t setting yourself.  It was fun and filled with lots of information.

It gave me an appreciation of how labor intensive this process is.  Due to an epidemic of white flies in California years ago they no longer grow the crops anymore and instead have the peanuts shipped in from southern states.  I always thought of Arizona as a southern state, but we were informed they are a western state, not southern.  I stand corrected!

 We learned there are three kinds of peanuts.  The Virginia peanut is the kind most people think of, in the shells or out and is probably the most common eating peanut.  The runners are the kind you never see in the stores as they are used for making peanut butter.  The Spanish peanuts are used in candy and peanut brittle and can be found on the grocery shelves as well.

Peanuts are a vegetable, since they are legumes and are a rich source of protein, and since they contain no cholesterol they are more beneficial to health than many sources of animal protein.

Peanuts can help lower the risk of heart disease.  A clinical study at Pennsylvania State University shows that diets with peanuts, peanut butter and peanut oil all lowered total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels, without lowering the HDL (good) levels.

Peanuts can help you lose weight.  Purdue University did a study finding that peanuts were able to satisfy hunger for up to three hours, a significantly longer period of time than other high-carbohydrate snacks such as a rice cake.

Peanuts contain vitamins and are an excellent source of vitamin E.  They also provide approximately 2 grams of fiber per ounce and have relatively high amounts of copper, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.  In addition they are very high in protein.  In fact, peanuts provide more protein per ounce than any other legume.

The Peanut Patch provides any type and flavor of peanuts you could possibly desire as well as several other snacks and gifts.  Oh yeah, did I mention they have fudge?  They also provide a machine in the store in case you want to grind your own peanut butter.

 

 

We were allowed to travel through the area where they had spread out the peanut brittle to harden on this huge marble slap.  We were cautioned that if anyone touched, breathed or sneezed on it, they would bag up the 17 pounds of peanut brittle for your purchase.

 

 

I always had it in my head that I did not like peanut butter and almost didn’t take the spoonful they provided as a free taste.  But I was being a good sport and graciously took the offering and prepared to choke it down.  OMG!  I love peanut butter, at least this kind, since it’s real and has no additives or preservatives in it.  It is song worthy.  For those who know me, I have been known to break out in song when something is really tasty.

The tour answered every possible question about each step of the growing and processing steps.  It even cleared up the mystery of those sheep we see from time to time out in the fields.

I loved the way the birds would hop from one to another in search of bugs for their meal

 

It appears not only the people from the north flock to Yuma for the warm weather, but they ship their sheep down with them.  After the crops have been harvested the sheep are brought down from Montana and turned loose to graze on the remains and provide a wonderfully nitrogen rich fertilizer in return.  No need to spread it around, they do that all by themselves.  This is truly a win-win deal.

I had to include the black sheep in the photo, since I was always called that in my family I know how he feels

She further explained that at times they sheep are herded down the streets and you may find your car engulfed by them in the process.  The dogs work to herd them and keep them from going into any of the many canals that crisscross this area.

I couldn't even get them all in the photo without them looking like little white dots

We also learned about the canals during this presentation.  The farmers pay for the water by the cubic foot and then it is diverted to their farmland where they open the gates to release it into the fields.  The price is based on how many cubic feet are needed for the crop and any water purchased after that point is at a higher rate.  It takes more water to grow a field of peanuts than the same sized area grown for citrus.

Well, that’s a longer post than I’d intended to do, but there was just so much information to share.  But, I’m hungry now…I think it’s time for some sourdough toast with a little peanut butter on it.

Long Live the Peanut Queen

Be careful for what you wish for….

I’ve always been a believing that you create a good deal of your own luck by having the proper intentions.  Some would call this the art of manifesting.  It’s a skill I have honed over the years and have benefited from greatly, but only when done properly.

Recently I was lack in my diligence and here’s the story.

The bane or our existence is the lack of good internet.  I would give up my gas oven in place of being able to connect to the Web and so this is what I’ve been trying to divine lately – the Web.

And Web I have been blessed with, just not the internet type.

In searching for some books to read lately I’ve been visiting the library here at the RV resort.  My first one was a sweet book titled ‘Driving Me Crazy’ by Peggy Webb.  It’s about her relationship with a very feisty mother who seemed to resemble the grandmother character in many of Janet Evanovich’s stories.  It was a fun read and there was a recipe for peach cobbler in the beginning that I have in the oven right now to test out.

did it as a triple berry cobbler instead of peaches...the second time - read on,,,
 

 

Left Brain and I have been attending Spanish lessons at the library, a free service they provide, not even a library card is necessary.  I had hoped for a native speaker and was dismayed to find a gringo teaching the class…but tried to keep an open mind.  This turned out to be delightful.  Leroy Webb has a degree in Spanish and taught in Utah until his retirement.  His pronunciation is flawless and he has a warm sense of humor in his class. His father was born in Mexico, but has no Mexican bloodlines.  During the wars with Poncho Villa the family fled to New Mexico and altered his birth certificate to show he was born in New Mexico instead of just Mexico.  Yup, his daddy was an illegal alien.  Did you notice his name was Jethro Webb?

Later, in search of another book to read I picked up a murder mystery by an author that specializes in the South West and various Indian tribes in this area.  I’m really enjoying her writing style and will be finding the earlier books in what appears to be a series.  Oh yeah, her name is Betty Webb.

So even though the internet connection seems to be precarious I am slowly weaning myself away from having to check my email and Facebook more than once a day.  The library is closed on Sunday and Monday so if the Sprint hotspot fails to connect me it just doesn’t happen and I’m finally okay with that.  I feel less and less a need to connect with the internet web and more with my husband and life going on around me.

So I really was blessed with connecting to the Web, only it seems to be spelled Webb instead.  Sometimes you fail to get what you asked for and instead are granted what you need; the beauty is in recognizing this and embracing the lesson.

Oh, the peach cobbler!  Easy and divine, here is the recipe:

Melt one stick of butter in a glass pan – don’t use oleo, you need real honest to good butter here.  In a separate bowl mix one cup sugar, one cup self-rising flour and ¾ cup milk.  Pour this over the melted butter – don’t stir in – just dump it on top.  Scatter one can of sliced peaches, drained, over the batter and butter.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Yum! 

Note:  I tried it the first time with regular flour, didn't see where it would make a difference.  Yikes!  It was awful....it does make a difference.  When I tried it again with the self-rising flour it was fine.  I used a frozen bag of mixed berries - this was really tasty.

Long Live the Queen of Abundance…and peach cobbler

 

Does this sound familiar to you?

$5.37!

That's what the kid behind the counter at   Taco Bell said to me.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly   Rancher.

Having already handed the kid a five-spot,   I started to head back out to the truck to grab some change when the kid with the Elmo hairdo said the hardest thing anyone has ever said to me.

He said, "It's OK. I'll just give you   the senior citizen discount.”

I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting the counter in front of me.

"Only $4.68" he said cheerfully.

I stood there stupefied. I am 56, not even 60 yet?

A mere child!

Senior citizen?

I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong with  Elmo.

Was he blind?

As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil.

Old? Me?

I'll show him, I thought.

I opened the door and headed back inside. 

 I strode to the counter, and there he was waiting with a smile.

Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me;

like I could be that easily distracted!

What am I now? A toddler?

"Dude!  Can't get too far without your car keys, eh?"

I stared with utter disdain at the keys. I began to rationalize in my mind! 

"Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to anyone!"

I turned and headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn't turn.

What now? I checked my keys and tried another.

Still nothing.

That's when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror.

I had no purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror.

Then, a few other objects came into focus:

The car seat in the back seat.  Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard.

A partially eaten dough nut on the dashboard.

Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle.

Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life.

That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger!

My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found.

I swung the truck around, gathered my courage, and strode back into the restaurant one final time.

There Elmo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish.

All I could think was, "What is the world coming to?"

All I could say was, "Did I leave my food and drink in here"?

At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.

Elmo had no clue. I walked back out to the truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He was holding up a drink and a bag.

His mother explained, "I think you left this in my truck by mistake."

I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.

She offered these kind words:

"It's OK. My grandfather does stuff like this all the time."

All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40 mph zone.

Yessss, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius.

And no, I told the officer, I'm not too old to be driving this fast.

As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall.

I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket.

I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blankey.

The good news was that I had successfully found my way home.

Pass this on to the other "old fogies" on your list (so they can have fun laughing, too).

Notice the larger type?

That's for those of us who have trouble reading.

Long Live the Queen of Confusion

The desert in bloom

I’ve often heard how beautiful the desert is when in bloom, but I had no idea.

 

We had some rain here a while back and perhaps that’s what triggered it, or maybe they just get more water here, or maybe it was just their normal time to bloom.

Anyway you look at it I felt privileged to observe it.

The first time I saw this I thought it was fake. 

 

I really believed someone put these tacky plastic flowers on the edges of the cactus type foliage. 

 

 I mean, it just doesn’t look natural. 

Wow, there seems to be an epidemic here – the same flowers are everywhere. 

Well, kind of. 

 

There seem to be a wide variety of colors and types of blooms.

I’m guessing there’s a lot more bloom to be seen, but it’s delightful seeing this much as we walk around the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long Live the Blooming Queen

Views of River's Edge RV Resort

 

For a park we found purely by chance, this is just delightful.  It is located right off Interstate 8 and next to the Colorado River.  We can see the park in Yuma across the water.

When we checked in I was asked if I preferred fish or fowl.  Huh?  This made no sense to me at all until it was explained that one half of the park had streets named after fish and the other half was named after birds.

I was in a “fowl” mood that day, so that’s how we ended up on Osprey Drive.

The lots are large and have a concrete patio, which after time in the rocks and sand of the desert this is very nice, indeed!

Here is a view of the street we live on – we’re in the back on the left.

The sunsets are fabulous here and I couldn’t resist running outside to snap these as I saw them out my window.

The resort has a pool and two hot tubs.  On Tuesday and Thursday they play water volleyball, which is a blast.  I had commented that the only thing that would make it perfect is to add a pickleball court.  This is in the works but I doubt we’ll still be here by its completion.  But the Yuma Parks and Recs offers it for $2 a person as a drop in fee....and it's indoors!

 

The library has a large collection of books, magazines, movies and jigsaw puzzles.  I’ve been taking advantage of this to read some free books and work on jigsaw puzzles, something that takes up too much space in the RV.

They have a room with pool tables, but we haven’t gotten in there yet to play.

There’s a large community room for dinners and dances, something else we’ve yet to take part in. 

The resort has several laundry areas, bathrooms and showers.  Instead of plugging in multiple quarters you purchase tokens so there’s only one token per load to be inserted.  That simplifies things.

There is a walking path along the river and there are several little areas to go closer to the water and sit.  Several are decorated really cute.

On the front side of the resort there is a dog run that has a collection of antique machinery along the route to decorate it.

 

The first time I saw this wagon pulled by two horses I just knew I had to fake a photo of See-More in the wagon.  Now we are traveling with a two-horse-power engine.

 

There are large rows of trees planted between the lots, providing privacy and shade.  Obviously this is an older park as they are huge.  It feels so good to see trees again, and running water…and I mean both watching the river and being able to turn on a faucet!

So, I’m glad we committed to a month here.  In fact we may stay a few extra days as Vicki Lawrence is doing a one woman show at the casino nearby.  We have tickets to see the Temptations there on the 15^th already and I noticed the signs for her show as well.

We don’t have any big rush to move on from here, our next route is to head north to Las Vegas to visit the Divine Miss M for a few days.

Long Live the Queen of the Resort

Combat bocce ball

 

I had never played bocce ball before and my vision of it had been as a lawn sport with nice smooth grass to roll the balls on.  In fact, all the photos of this sport depict that very activity.

So it was to my surprise that Kay and Tom invited us to play with them during our stay in Quartzsite.  Really? 

Kay explained, with that mischievous gleam in her eye, but this is “combat bocce ball”. 

Huh?

So out into the wash between Boomerville and the Solar City (those RV’s wanting to stay away from us and not hear our generators) we went.



this was OUR playing field
 

Their set of bocce balls was all beat up, full of dents and scratches and I was soon to find out why.  We played on the rocky surface of the land around us, dodging cactus, bushes and G-d knows what slithery creatures might be lurking about.

But, like a bunch of kids playing kick the can under the light of a lamppost in the middle of the street, we laughed and carried on with hoots and hollers.

There is a playful aspect to these Boomers!  It’s as if we had lapsed back into being preschoolers, enjoying our similarities more than what sets us apart, and just reveling in the joy of playing with one another.  This felt so right to me.  The only difference seemed to be that instead of hearing my Grandmother’s voice calling me home for supper, I had to fix it myself.  Bummer.

Just when I thought Boomerville was winding down several more rigs started to pull in.  They stopped near our area while we were outside with our neighbors, Al and Ingrid and asked about where to set up.  Ingrid immediately tried to make a quick $20 by claiming to be the campground host.  Nice try, but it didn’t work.

They asked where the "solar people" were because last time they set up near some of them; and they didn’t like it when they started to run their generators.  Ingrid continued playing host and assured them that we all ran our generators here and it was no problem.

So, much to her dismay they all pulled in right next to her fifth wheel…all three of them.  And I mean right next to her rig – closely.  Seriously?  You can look around and see lots of empty open places to park here and they tuck in like we’re in some kind of crowded campground.  How rude.  Oh well, that’s part of this life, you know you’re moving again soon anyway so just let it roll….unlike those combat bocce balls.

We had some good memories of that stay and it was fun meeting new fellow nomads. 

Long Live the Queen of Nostalgia

Getting caught up with the blog

 

Left Brain has finished cleaning up the RV and car now; all the windows are washed and sparkling once more.  I did my part by removing everything from the outdoor bays, cleaning out the compartments and resorting and replacing the items in a more orderly manner.  Now all the craft and sewing items are inside where they are accessible.

There is a rummage sale coming up soon here in the park, so I’m getting all the things that need to be parted with prepared for the sale.  I don’t care if I get any money for the stuff, it will save me having to haul it off.  If I need to do that I noticed a Humane Society Thrift Store in Yuma that I’ll take stuff to.

We took some time to chat with our neighbors next door from Montana.  They are currently in a 13’ Hi-Lo but realized they can’t spend large amounts of time in this, so a new travel trailer will be arriving later this week.

Left Brain watched the Super Bowl and I took the opportunity to have a lengthy chat with the Divine Miss M and then walked down to the clubhouse and worked on some jigsaw puzzles.  I thought I had managed to miss most of the game, but came home to find there had been a lengthy delay due to a power outage.  Outflanked again!  We were reminiscing about how different the two experiences were.  Last year’s Super Bowl was watched on a 7” screen in the original canned ham and this year was on a nice big screen in a recliner.

I’ve located where the Parks and Rec have their pickleball games and we’ll search that out soon.  The RV resort has water volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as cribbage, so that will fill in some of the other activity slots.  We need to get out and move our bodies a bit if we’re going to keep eating this well!

The library is starting Spanish lessons on Wednesdays, so I’ll be checking that out also.  There’s plenty to do and no excuse to be bored here.

 

Long Live the Queen

Settling into our new digs

 

We have arrived in Yuma at last.  Well, actually we went past Yuma and landed in Winterhaven CA at a place called the Rivers Edge RV Resort.

Our plan was to stay at KOFA, the Escapees Park, but they were full to the brim.  We were offered dry camping and getting on their list but there was no guarantee.  Well, this girl has had enough of dry camping and was longing for electricity and water again…so we continued onward.

This park is nice, the lots are spacious with a cement pad, big shade trees and we were fortunate to be positioned next to the river as well as close to the laundry.  There’s a bit of highway noise and a train once in a while, but the rent was affordable and we just wanted to settle in for a while.

The first night we laid low and the following morning we set out in search of what Yuma has to offer.  Our first stop was at the branch of the public library, not that far from where we are staying.  Here we found free wireless internet with large quiet rooms to use for accessing the net.  There are also some study rooms you can use for a two hour period that may come in handy later when it’s time to do the taxes and longer projects.  After we got caught up with our email, Facebook and reading the blogs we went in search of food.

On the way to lunch we dropped off Left Brain’s prescriptions at Wal-Mart where we were told it would be a two hour wait, so those will be picked up later.

 

We agreed on checking out Bubba’s for lunch.  In my mind it was close enough to Bubbe’s for me.  He had the pulled pork sandwich and I had a very nice reuben.  After satisfying our hunger he dropped me off at Fry’s supermarket and then went across the street to a carwash.  He’s wanted to wash the car (and the RV) for a long time after all the dirt and dust from our stay in Quartzsite.

Since I was at my own leisure I walked up and down each and every aisle – what a nice store!  It had great selections and amenities. After shopping I went outside to wait for my chauffer to pick me up.  The car was so shiny I wasn’t sure who it was stopping for me.

After putting away the frozen and refrigerated items I carried the laundry over to put it in the machines.  It sure felt good to get everything clean again.

We have been living full time now for nine months.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been on the road this long already. 

 

Long Live the Queen of California Living