Friday, April 3, 2020: Another long travel day from Sparks, Nevada to Sutherlin, Oregon (our home base). Again, we had originally planned a shorter drive to stop at Hat Creek, California, a very beautiful area in northern California. However, the weather forecast calls for a mix of snow and rain on Saturday so we chose to drive the entire distance into Sutherlin. Abby had us up at 5 am so we were on the road before 7 am. We made a few stops for Abby along the way then arrived in Sutherlin before 3 pm. We passed the snow covered Mt. Shasta as we left California and entered Oregon. It has been ten months since we left our home base. We love Arizona during the winter but getting back to the forested and green Oregon really feels good.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020: This is our last night in Arizona. We are ready to head out early tomorrow for our home base in Oregon. We expect our first stop to be Henderson, Nevada. We expect this drive to be three nights arriving in Sutherlin on Saturday.

These last photos are more of the desert flowers surrounding our camp.

Monday, March 30, 2020: The number one activity here at Desert Gold is riding the desert trails in a side by side or an ATV. The number two activity is probably Bingo. In addition to these activities there are two golf courses here. The desert golf course is nine holes, par 65 over some of the roughest terrain. Clubs and balls are provided. I flew the drone over much of Rocky Acres.

The second golf course is a miniature 18 hole golf course. Gary, Jeanne, Gwen and I played this course. Again, balls and clubs are provided. We noticed some of the clubs were #5 and #7 irons which had us confused until we played the course. The chance of going off the path was good and I suppose some golfers use the 5 or 7 irons to return. We had to cheat, otherwise we would still be on the course taking 20 strokes per hole.

Click both photos for more views. When you click on the desert golf course you'll see that the golfer need only get his ball to the mound, no holes.

Sunday, March 29, 2020: These are all wild desert plants with the exception of the Century Plant to the right. Compare the size of this Century Plant (irrigated) to the one below which depends upon rainfall. This one is about 20 feet tall compared to 8 feet tall below. I doubt it will bloom before we leave on Wednesday but if it does, I'll post another photo. Click all these photos for enlarged views.

Saturday, March 28, 2020: I rode with Gary and Jeanne into the desert near Salome, Arizona. We ended up on a portion of the Arizona Peace Trail. It is an 800 mile loop trail through southwest Arizona specifically for off road vehicles. We got to a spot on a climb to a mountain pass where we decided we didn't want to take the Jeep further. We walked to the top of the pass. These photos show much of the best parts of the scenery we found. Click all photos for more views and a panorama or two.

The photo at right was a special treasure, a Century Plant ready to bloom.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020: We drove to Parker today for a final shopping trip before we leave for Oregon next week. We had multiple items on our list. Hand sanitizer was on the list but the shelves at both Walmart and Safeway were bare. I did come up with a replacement for hand sanitizer and Safeway had plenty on the shelf. I'll bet Corona virus would be killed by my idea. Click the empty hand sanitizer shelves on the left to see my idea.

The toilet paper and paper towel isle was also empty. Those shelves are on the right. I don't get it. I hear people are buying guns and ammunition, I guess to protect their toilet paper!

Safeway did have Tillamook Ice Cream on sale, that's important!

Friday, March 20, 2020: We have an owl nesting in one of the palm trees in our RV park. See if you can find it. When you give up or want a closer view, click on the palm tree.

Gwen and I took a short drive into the desert and found this wild Saguaro Cactus with a hole in the side. Not sure what made the hole but we wanted to learn if there was something in the hole. Click on the Saguaro to get a better view of the hole.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020: Today was the day to search for desert cactus flowers. This is a good reason to stick around in Arizona thru March. After another rain, all the wild flowers will likely be appearing also. Click the photos for more views.

Saturday, March 14, 2020: The Desert Gold RV Park has many standing Saguaro Cactus. They must be at least 75 years old to have their first arm. This one must have been here for a long time. For some reason, probably due to the recent rain and wind storm, it gave way last night and ended up on the pavement. The news got around the park quickly so by the time I got over there to get a photo there was a good crowd and the guys were already out to pick it up. Click the photo for another view.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020: I went on a bike ride then returned hoping to meet with the drone pilots group where we would all fly together. Unfortunately, it began to rain just before the drone meeting so no one (but me) showed up.

While I was waiting for other drone pilots to show up, Jeanne and Gwen were at a Tie Dye class making two shirts each. Both Gwen and Jeanne enjoyed their afternoon and met other ladies who liked to Tie Dye. Click both photos for more views.

Monday, March 9. 2020: Another 24 mile ride today. On the return this garage was in the middle of the RV park street. We have learned, if you rent the space for a year, about $2300, you can put nearly any structure you want onto the space. For $2300 the space comes with water, sewer connection, electric pedestal providing two 50 amp circuits (used for many modern, larger RVs) a 20 amp and a 30 amp circuit. It also comes with minimal cable TV service, a concrete pad, some landscaping and gravel covering the lot. Of course the space is located off an asphalt street. Compare this park with our park in Sutherlin, Oregon. Everything mentioned above is included in Sutherlin with the exception of cable TV. Sutherlin also includes a 10 x 12' storage shed. Additionally, the lots in Sutherlin are about twice the size of the Brenda lots. You my NOT put ANY structure onto a lot in Sutherlin as you can in Brenda because there are strict rules in Sutherlin. The lots in Brenda are covered with a huge variety of buildings and storage sheds. Many are in very poor condition. The annual fee in Sutherlin changes every year but averages about $1550 per year. Of course, summer weather is pleasant in Sutherlin while winter weather is pleasant in Brenda. Hence we have spent our last ten winter years in Arizona. So ideally, we spent the summer up north and the winters in the south. This garage is really nice. I can imagine putting a wood shop in the garage but leaving enough room for the Forester. Click the photos for more views.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020: Gwen and I drove 1 hour plus 35 minutes to Lake Havasu, Arizona to meet our friends, Bud and Anita. They drove from Laughlin, Nevada so we met half way. We arrived early because we had much to do. Our first stop was the UPS Store to make an Amazon return. Next, to Hobby Lobby for supplies to make a sign for our new puppy to arrive in 2.5 weeks. We still had time before our luncheon meeting so we drove to Dorita's Place, advertised to be a specialty per supply store. They were nicely organized with lots of dog food choices and toys. Click the photo to see a toy choice I haven't seen elsewhere.

For lunch, we chose Black Bear Diner, one of our favorite chain resturants which had its beginning in Mt. Shasta, California. We can always trust the food quality at this restaurant.

After lunch we met again at Culver's, a Wisconsin based chain with frozen custard for desert.

Our last three stops were Pet Smart, WalMart and Albertsons. We left Lake Havasu at 6:20 pm putting us back in Brenda at 8:00 pm.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020: Gwen took me to Bingo last night. It's funny, we were watching a word game on the TV and the clue was "elderly game", the answer was Bingo! You could certainly see that last night. I'm not sure why the elderly folks like this game? I was going "brain dead" after the first 5 games. When the break came, Gwen excused me and she finished my cards with the last five games.

Today I attended a Drone Club meeting and finally met others who like flying drones. Click the photo to see our leader, John. He spent most of the meeting talking about the proposed rule changes for drone pilots by the FAA. If the FAA changes the rules as proposed the whole hobby industry for drones, and any other RC aircraft will be changed if not eliminated. Other than that, I learned this group flies together every Wednesday afternoon. I've put it into my calendar but Gwen and I are meeting friends in Lake Havasu tomorrow so I won't be flying with them until next week.

So games and club meetings are a benefit of staying in an RV park. Another benefit ... the park picks up garbage from the curb every day. They also pick up propane tanks, fill and return them on Tuesday and Friday. I wanted to get my bike ride finished today before the drone meeting so just stayed on the pavement in the park, another benefit.

Saturday, February 29, 2020: On this leap year day, we met our friends Steve and Tina to hike the Hassayampa River Preserve. It is only a few miles from our camping location and a Maricopa County Park. The trails crisscross the river which is mostly dry right now but a trickle of water in several locations where it doesn't go underground.

If you hike all the trails in the park, you have hiked 3 miles. People come here to see the botanical garden and cactus garden. They also are bird watchers hoping to spot something unique. There is also a lake filled with trees and water plants, tiny fish and turtles.

We are here for the hiking and the views plus we get to talk with Steve and Tina to learn what's been happening this last year. Click the photos for more views.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020: Jeanne, Gwen and I visited downtown Wickenburg tourist shops. We took our time looking in all the shops along main street. All are focused on the tourist or on antique shoppers. None of us found much to buy. Jeanne and Gary are looking to buy property in this area so they will need a lot of decorator items if that happens.

Click each photo for more views.

After downtown shopping Gary drove Jeanne and me around as they looked at houses they found on Zillow. I learned there were two big rodeo and roping events happening with hundreds of livestock trailers parked at each event. I also learned property in Wickenburg starts around $200,000 and goes to $400,000 for a very nice house in a new neighborhood.

Sunday, February 23, 2020: A couple of months ago Gwen and I committed to another Golden Retriever. It has been two years since we lost Morgan. We are so in love with the Golden Retriever. Today we met Abigail for the first time. She is four weeks old, we will be picking her up when she is eight weeks old. Her mother and father are red Goldens so Abigail will be red. It has been 20 years since we have raised a puppy (Morgan) so we have been reading a lot of books about Golden Retrievers and about puppies. Abigail's litter is only four puppies so there is no competition for mom's milk. She has been growing fast. She currently weighs 5 pounds and will more than double that when we pick her up. Even though we owned Morgan for more than 17 years, we have learned much about the Golden Retrieve by reading about them, The Golden personality is unique in our view. I made a short video of Abigail while she was sitting in Gwen's lap. Click these photos for another view.

Saturday, February 22, 2020: The excitement today was the desert rainstorm. It only lasted a half day, only rained .2" of rain but that caused the smaller washes to run.

There were times when we could hardly see Gary and Jeanne and the mountains disappeared.

All this is unusual in the desert, otherwise, it's no big deal elsewhere.

Here is a short video of the water in the wash.

Our rainstorm included wind up to 31 mph.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020: We took a desert Jeep ride today. I wanted to lead Gary, Jeanne and Gwen to an Arizona Fish and Game project to provide water to wildlife. At first we struggled to find the right road to the mountain I was looking for. But Gary kept the Jeep moving and we slowly found our way to the project behind the mountain. We enduring driving through a narrow wash with bushes scratching on both sides. Then we climbed steep hills and dropped into deep washes where we had to climb a steep wall on the other side to get out. I made a short video of our trip today. Click on all photos to see more views.

Monday, February 17, 2020: Our Monday started with the four of us going to the community center for pancakes and eggs. Laundry came next then a relaxing afternoon.

The photo is from a time we visited a little cafe just north of Parker. I asked Jeanne to pose next to Elvis. I hope we get to visit again, it was good food.

You may not know my history with Jeanne. I worked for Rogue Community College for ten years just before retirement. Jeanne was my immediate supervisor. I retired about three years before she retired. Since our retirement we have spent many winters traveling together in the Arizona desert.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020: Our friends, Wayne and Char arrived today to stay with us for a few days. We met Wayne and Char back in 2010 when we chose to become employees or California Land Management (CLM). CLM managed National Forest Service campgrounds in California and we were assigned to maintain six of those campgrounds near Downieville, California. Wayne was our immediate supervisor and trained us to take care of the facilities. Since then we have heard horror stories from campground hosts who worked for supervisors other than Wayne. We were lucky to get one of the good supervisors. We became friends and have stayed in touch since then. They are now retired and are traveling in their new Class C, 24 foot motorhome. We enjoyed catching up this evening around the campfire.

Monday, February 10, 2020: I went exploring today having learned that Bouse has and airport. The red plane is set up to be STOL (short take-off and landing). With the huge, soft tires (called "Bush tires") it can land on very rough surfaces. We have watched it circling around us parked in the desert and picking spots to try a touch & go landing. Click the STOL photo to see the airport. I became a private pilot in 1977 and owned two airplanes between 1977 and 1984 when I could no longer afford the expense of flying. It was the most difficult activity I have ever learned to do. It is also the activity I miss the most. There is nothing like owning and flying your own plane. I enjoyed every second of flying. When I look at the Bouse Airport I would be concerned about getting rock chips in the propeller blade.

Across the street, I discovered a Rutan Long-EZ. This is an experimental two seat plane with a rear engine and pusher prop. In 1997, John Denver was doing touch and go practice at the Monterey Bay Airport in Monterey, California in his Rutan Long-EZ. He became distracted trying to switch fuel tanks and took a dive into the bay and drowned. This plane is known for its quick handling and long range. This one is not in flying condition. It was assembled over twenty years by a farmer in Montana. He died before flying it so those who inherited it have been moving it from one location to another since getting it. Click this photo for a larger view.

Sunday, February 9, 2020: During World War II, the area east of Bouse, Arizona was turned into a top secret tank training area for George Patton. More than ten thousand soldiers were brought to Camp Bouse for training. It is hard to believe since this area is sparsely populated today. Bouse still has daily freight trains passing through but no passenger trains as there were during WWII. Every February Camp Bouse is remembered in a memorial day of activities and tours. I attended to get a video of the "fly over" by the local private pilots. A half dozen single engine, prop planes flew by but I messed up and didn't get the video. I did, however, get a video of the preparation for a speech by the commander of the Yuma Proving Grounds. The YPG is located about 90 miles south of Bouse. Here is that Short video of the preparation. Click both photos for more views.

Saturday, February 8, 2020: Gary, Jeanne and I travel to the La Paz County Park about eight miles north of Parker, Arizona to explore the flea market which happens there every Saturday during the winter months. It is a popular flea market with lots of flea market junk but a few vendors with new or creative items. One of the fascinating vendors was selling wind mobiles such as the balloons in the photo. Here is a short video showing the action of the balloons in the wind.

This was also free fishing day for kids so kids and their instructors where lining the banks of the Colorado River. All fishing equipment was provided for the kids.

Click both photos for more views.

Friday, February 7, 2020: Another hike today with Gary, Jeanne and Gwen. This time looking for a desert memorial which Gary and Jeanne found.

Something different about this hike, I followed with the drone to get a higher view of the scenery. Click here for the video.

Click both photos for more views.

We know nothing about this memorial. Gary and Jeanne found it in the desert and shared with us.

Thursday, February 6, 2020: Gary, Jeanne, Gwen and I drove into the desert looking for caves and overhanging rocks. Gary and Jeanne had found a few and wanted to show Gwen and me. We went to two areas, the first looked like a human excavation looking for minerals. It was a mine about 30 feet deep. It was dug into solid rock. Apparently no valuable minerals were found. The second looked like a volcanic bubble large enough to house a family looking for shelter from storms or from the summer sun. I saw evidence of animals using the bubble but no evidence that humans were here. The weather was perfect, little wind and mid-60s, hot in the sun. Click both photos for more views.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: February 3, 4 & 5, 2020: On Monday, we drive Mz Ruby to Avondale, Arizona, the closest Cummins service center. We need the service department to check out our generator which has been giving us a problem. Before owning a residential refrigerator we were happy with solar charging during the day, watching TV at night leaving the batteries at 75% charge level. Everything was turned off at night so the morning charge level was just slightly less than 75% and the sun would have our batteries fully charged by noon. Now, with a residential refrigerator we can keep the same routine as long as we don't watch evening TV. When we do watch evening TV the batteries drop to 75% but that isn't enough to keep the refrigerator going all night. The generator must be run about 3/4 hour before bedtime to bring the battery level higher. Now, the solar charging can have the batteries fully charged by 2:00 pm. Before the residential refrigerator we needed a generator only on a cloudy day. Now we need one nearly every day.

On Tuesday, Cummins worked all day to identify the problem. By the end of the day, they felt the problem was solved. Fortunately, they provided a place in their parking lot to park with a 50 amp plug-in for power. Of course, we visited Costco, WalMart, Hobby Lobby and Culvers while the guys were working on our generator.

On Wednesday, we got a late start back to our desert location in Bouse, Arizona. We arrived in mid-afternoon so left much of the setup to tomorrow. Click the photo for an interior view of Cummins.

Sunday, February 2. 2020: What a great place to watch Super Bowl LIV. We were routing for both teams so our team won. We are happy for Kansas City but San Francisco should be proud of their team also. Gary and Jeanne joined us for our outdoor view of the game with a sunset in the background. It never got below 63 degrees outside but the campfire made sure we stayed warm.

Friday, January 31, 2020: We have a propane campfire thing. It came with pumice to catch and store the heat from the propane flame. But not enough pumice to really be effective. During my desert hike today I gathered desert quartz to place in the bottom of the fire pit to raise the pumice to a height where the pumice will be hit by the flame and heat up. My friend, Gary, also gave me some extra pumice to help out my campfire. I carefully stacked the quartz around the edge of the fire ring then placed the pumice on top of the fire ring and quartz. It's a little heavier now but works great. The pumice glows red hot once heated. Click both photos to enlarge.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020: We have been coming to this area of the Arizona desert for ten years. We've always noticed a 400 foot cell tower toward the south end of Bouse. It wasn't a Verizon tower so we just shrugged our shoulders and ignored it. But the Verizon signal strength out here is very weak and sometimes none at all. That makes it very difficult for use to get any kind of Internet access other than driving to the library. I finally asked the librarian which company owned that huge tower to the south of town. She told me T-Mobile so I called T-Mobile and they offered me a free hotspot plus a 30 day free trial to test the signal strength. I told Gary about the offer so he ordered a free trial also. We have been getting text messages telling us when to expect the UPS man to deliver our hotspots. Both of us gave the post office address as our delivery address hoping to catch the UPS man before he delivered. The notice I got today gave a link to a "Follow My Delivery" for our UPS man. So we watched our phones as he came closer to Bouse. We drove in the direction of the UPS truck on the phone map and saw him driving toward us. We made a U-turn and followed him to his next stop then jumped out of Gary's Jeep waving our driver's licenses to prove our identity and asked if we could have our packages. Here he comes with our boxes. Gary and I were like two little boys getting Christmas presents. If this works, it will solve the last problem of camping off grid in the desert. We quickly set up the hotspots and they immediately logged into the nearby tower. You can see the signal strength is five bars and WiFi is already broadcasting. Since this is free for 30 days we thought T-Mobile would limit us to 1 gig but NO! To our surprise, the free trial was for 30 days or 30 gigs, whichever comes first. So far, the service is great. I've also learned, if we had a device to receive 5G, this tower has 5G out here in the middle of nowhere.

Thursday, January 23, 2020: Gary, Jeanne and I visited the "Big Tent" in Quartzsite. They, like many other pet owners, also walked their dog, Hershey, through the crowded tent to help socialize Hershey. They did a much better job of buying things than I did. Jeanne found the squeegee she has been looking for to help clean the windows. And they signed up for a DirecTV deal to improve their TV watching.

Monday, January 20, 2020: This is Monday so my day began with breakfast at the community center then the library next door for Internet access. We also needed propane and water so I stopped for both before returning to Mz Ruby.

Gwen is not feeling well so I drove into Parker for some cough syrup and groceries. While there, I drive about five miles north and parked along side the Colorado River on the Arizona side. This location is where the Colorado River separates the states of Arizona and California. I got out the drone and flew for a short way up and down the river. I'm still pretty nervous when flying over water, the drone would sink like a rock if I made a pilot error. Take a look at the Colorado between Arizona and California.

Sunday, January 19, 2020: Today was the NFL final playoff games to decide who would be in Super Bowl LIV. I had decided during the last playoff games it would be the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Neither game today was close but it was fun watching both games. I don't have a prediction of who might win on February 2. I just hope it is a good, fair and close game.

Saturday, January 18, 2020: I made a quick trip today to the first day of the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show, otherwise known as "The Big Tent". Over 250 vendors in the tent and immediate surrounding. Tyson Wells, across the street, has an additional 200 vendors. You could spend a week here and still not see everything.

Parking is the first challenge. I accidentally found a desert road into the wash near the big tent. So did many others but they came along the wash. Many got stuck in the deep gravel but fortunately, I had no problem.

Two years ago I purchased a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) while visiting the Big Tent. I have one tire transmitter continuing to lose the signal. The vendor exchanged my transmitter for a new one. I spent the rest of my time walking much of the show with my video camera, not the whole show, but enough to give you and example of what the show is like. Click both photos for more views. The video is mine, the photos came from show advertising.

Thursday, January 16, 2020: Lots to do today. I started with the laundromat because I waited too long to use our own washer/dryer. Next, I filled the four water jugs for our freshwater tank. Then, I took a drone flight from the Community Park to show you where the library is located. Then back to the laundromat to transfer my clothes to the dryer. While drying I drove to the library hoping to upload a video and other files. Nope, not enough time, back to the laundromat for the cloths then wait in line for 30 minutes to get propane. Now, back to the library to finish the upload. Finally, to the reverse osmosis water building for 5 gallons of drinking water for $1.

We use the library for reliable Internet access. I purchased a cell booster to hopefully solve our Internet connection. It worked well for a week then became very spotty. It shows good cell signal and good 4G but no Internet most of the time except late at night or early in the morning. So we depend upon the library. Here is a video showing the library location from the Bouse Community Park. Click the panorama of the village of Bouse.

Saturday, January 11, 2020: Last night was the "Wolf Moon", the name of the first full moon in the winter season. We spotted it slowly rising over the desert floor and rushed out to take photos. Gwen in making a study of the moon before she starts her photos.

Today, Gwen and I drove to Brenda, Arizona, about 20 miles, for a tiny craft show. We are considering an RV park in Brenda for the month of March so we had three reasons to travel to Brenda. One, the craft show, two, check out the parks, three, hamburgers at the craft show advertised to be the best. Click the moon photo for a craft show panorama. We were able to do all three goals in Brenda. Then back home to view the NFL playoff games.

Thursday, January 9, 2020: On Thursday and Friday of each week the vegetable and fruit man comes to Bouse. He always has some of the very best produce. Gwen and I went shopping. She got good stuff, I got a watermelon. The prices are always very good too. After choosing produce, we went to the library so I could upload another video.

This morning I had two successful flights with the drone. Yesterday, I finally posted my drone connection problems on a forum of knowledgeable people. I had already contacted the store selling my drone and the manufacturer of the drone. Both replied quickly thinking my problem was a faulty cable. Both are sending replacement cables. I doubted their diagnosis so posted my problem on the forum. Within a minute I got a reply which seems to have fixed the problem. I combined my two flights into a single video which I call "Drone Practice" because I'm still learning how to fly. I did figure 8s and landing practice. Then I flew the furthest distance I've flown so far and the highest I've flown so far. I put all this into a 5 minute video. Take a look if you have an interest. I'm looking forward to having two extra cables too. Click the photo for another view.

My weather station has warned me of a lunar eclipse happening tomorrow. We will have to watch for it.

Monday, January 6, 2020: Early this morning we had breakfast with Ralph and Janet. They joined us last night in the desert but had to leave very early this morning to reach Yuma before 11 am. Since the Bouse Community Center does a $5 breakfast every Monday morning between 7 - 9 am, we were nearly the first in line at 7. We spent several months traveling with Ralph and Janet. It was good to catch up with them even for only a day. I made a video of our breakfast in the community center.

After adding fresh water to our holding tank we took ourselves into Parker for another movie. This is our third movie since coming to the desert. This one is not even worth renting (in my humble opinion) but maybe it is just made for a different audience. There are few movie choices in Parker and we had already seen the other choices.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020: This first day of 2020 has started off great with good weather and the forecast for the next ten days shows solar days ahead!

The highlight of the day was watching the Oregon Ducks stumble their way to a one point victory in the Rose Bowl. We are also a fan of Wisconsin and they played the better football today but a penalty and a fumbled punt kept them from winning.

We started this first day right by hiking to the top of a mountain only about a mile from our camp. I took these photos along the way. I also did a short video as we climbed the final hill. Click all the photos for more views.

Monday, December 30, 2019: We drove to Parker, Arizona today for groceries and supplies. The "supply" I was looking for was a bunch of new tubes for my bicycle so I could continue my desert riding. Parker is the county seat of La Paz county, a very large Arizona county. But they have NO bike shop so I tried Walmart then Ace Hardware, neither had my size tube. So, Amazon is the next best choice.

Gwen took me to the movies. She wanted to see "Little Women", the new Christmas, 2019 version. There was a good line of viewers in line to buy tickets, both men and women. However, I began to notice the men were buying two tickets, one for the wife to see Little Women and one for himself to see Jumanji. I considered that, but decided it would be good for me to see Little Women with Gwen. I'm glad I did, it was a very good, well acted movie with characters you can really like.

The bicycle tubes are on order but won't arrive until Monday, January 6! I did buy patches so plan to try patching the pinched tube for the spare until the new tubes arrive.

Thursday, December 26, 2019: This promises to be a stormy day. The weatherman has even issued flash flood warnings for this area. I suppose he must do that to be safe even though the chance of a flash flood this time of year is remote. I measured .1 inches of rain. Anyway, Gwen and I chose to drive to Quartzsite because Gwen remembered a couple of project items she needed. We visited a couple of our favorite stores (vendors) of the thousands of vendors who will eventually show up within the next couple of weeks. While in Quartzsite I always like to check the Tesla charging station at the far end of town. Since Quartzsite is about half way between Phoenix and Southern California cities, the charging station is almost always full. It helps that the charging station is located at the Carl's Jr. restaurant, another popular stop for the Phoenix and Southern California travelers. I was looking for only one item, JB Weld epoxy to make a repair. I ended up buying something similar but not the JB Weld brand. Gwen found what she was looking for in Gem World and also got a haircut. Click the photos for more views.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019: On this Christmas holiday, Gwen and I take a hike in the desert toward the mountains. It was sunny for the first time since we arrived but cold. It was a good hike. We saw a lot of green grass growing in the desert. We also saw fresh animal tracks, we think they were rabbit but possibly another hikers dog. We didn't hike far but stopped often to look at the rocks and vegitation. Still, our short hike lasted more than an hour. Click the photos for more views. Happy Holidays to all.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019: My sons insisted I go see this movie and Gwen preferred it over others so we took ourselves to Parker, Arizona today where the tickets were only $5 each. I loved getting to hear the musical background by John Williams. I also liked the ending and all the special effects. However, I don't believe any of the Star Wars movies match the very first one. I'm sure we will be seeing many more movies at this theater since the price is good.

Monday, December 23, 2019: One of our boondocking routines is the filling of the fresh water tank. Ms Ruby has a 100 gallon fresh water holding tank. The water in that tank is used for washing dishes, flushing the toilet, washing hands, showers, making ice and a few small clothes washing loads too. So we must keep replenishing the fresh water without moving Mz Ruby. We have four 4.5 gallon jugs we keep in the car at all times. The county park is only two miles from our desert location and we can fill our jugs at the park for a nickel per gallon. Each time I fill the jugs I put a dollar in the payment box. When I get back to Mz Ruby I use the onboard water pump to bring the water from the jugs into the holding tank. I've learned how to do it using what Winnebago designed to fill the plumbing with antifreeze for winter storing. I just flip one more switch to redirect the water into the holding tank. In a sense the amount of water we can use is unlimited. It just requires more trips to the county park. For that reason we are still very conservative with our water usage. We are especially careful of the amount of water going into the toilet. We can make the black water tank last at least a month which means moving Mz Ruby only once each month. Click on these three photos to enlarge.

Friday, December 13, 2019: While visiting the area and having breakfast at Sammy's in Castroville, our waitress, Jennifer, insisted that we visit the tiny town of Madina, Texas. The reason, because they have a bakery which makes the best apple pies in Texas. So, on an impulse, we drove to Madina today and found "The Apple Store". Fortunately they were working at making apple pies so I got a photo of the process. It seems they only make apple pies and cookies. Gwen got her favorite, peanut butter which I got an apple/orange cookie and slice of apple pie. The yard outside the bakery was very comfortable on this warm day. Click both photos for more views.

Friday, November 29, 2019: This is Ray's last day in San Antonio before he drives to Florida. Gwen has wanted to see Knives Out so we invited Ray to join us. The theater has seats for only $6 and they are large, powered, recliner chairs and can be reserved. We chose the 1 pm showing which put us out in time for an early dinner. The movie is a murder mystery with a family full of motives for murder. The mystery is kept secret until near the end with lots of surprises in between. There is lots of dialog and no violence and no time of boredom. Ray enjoyed the movie too.

Monday, November 25, 2019: I needed to visit the only hardware store in Hondo, Texas for parts to repair the topper on the living room slide. It was my first time to visit this hardware store. At least a third is devoted to household items. I was looking for a stainless steel screw with an allen head. They didn't have any so I settled for stainless steel with a phillips head. They worked. The Madina County Courthouse was across the street so I took some photos and got a history lesson about Madina County. Click the photos for more views.

Thursday, November 21, 2019: Our friend Ray came to visit today. After visiting, he and I took a short bicycle ride to a couple of cafes in D'Hanis to check them out for a possible lunch location with Gwen. We picked the steak house over the country grocery store cafe. It was a good lunch.

We all took a drive after lunch and found some Texas history about D'Hanis. Click both photos to see the history.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019: Another cold day so Gwen and I take a trip to Costco. I decided to try Tofu and asked my daughter for suggestions of what to do with it. She has already supplied me with recipes. I also spotted this 20 shot Nerf gun. It looks like fun for me and my sons not for the grandchildren. Nope, I didn't buy one, it just looks like fun. After Costco we spent the rest of the afternoon with Mary and Mike. We shared treats and gifts. Gwen and Mary exchanged jigsaw puzzles because they both enjoy puzzles and have puzzle collections. Mike and I figured out how to put new wipers onto their car. Tomorrow we are leaving this area and driving further west into Fredericksburg for a few days.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019: At 9:37 this morning I took this photo of my weather station. Outside temperature is 28.1° which is 42.0° colder than it was yesterday at this time. Coldest temperature (not shown) was 25.8° and the temperatures tomorrow are forecast to be colder.

This makes it a good day to try my daughter's recipe for hummus for the first time. I learned it is far more expensive to make your own hummus plus it takes a lot of time to assemble the ingredients then blend. The consistency meant I had to stir the hummus back into the blade by stopping the blending many times. It paid off so now I have homemade hummus.

Friday, November 8, 2019: Another bad weather day. Gwen stayed home to sew while I went to the new Midway movie. I cheated by refreshing my memory of the history of the Midway battle. I had remembered how poor the planes were and how ineffective or defective the US torpedoes were. I also remembered every torpedo plane arriving at the Japanese fleet was shot down. This movie does an OK job of showing the decision making on both sides. It also does a great job of showing how the intellegence officers made the difference in the outcome of the battle by breaking the Japanese code. The movie also did a good job explaining the importance of the battle and what might have happened had the US Navy not won the battle. We lost a whole lot of our pilots but Japan lost much more. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Carrier Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties. The battle began with Japan entering the battle with four carriers and lost all of them. The US entered with three carriers and lost one. Finally, the movie made it very clear that one pilot with one 500 pound bomb could sink an aircraft carrier. It also made it clear what bravery it took to be the pilot of one of those plane. "We are lucky the US has such poor planes" stated a Japanese officer after the first wave of torpedo bombers was shot down. They were also lucky American manufacturers sold defective torpedos to the Navy. The attacking scenes were very realistic.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019: While on our bus tour in Austin the tour bus driver mentioned Chuy's as we drove by.

Gwen and I decided to visit Chuy's the learn about "Tex Mex". The atmosphere was very active and colorful. Click the photo to see what I'm writing about.

Our meals were large. Mine ended up being two meals since I took half home in a box. Gwen did the same. Both had lots of flavor. Everything made Chuy's worth visiting again.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019: Almost exactly a year ago we purchased Mz Ruby from Mary and Mike. They drove Mz Ruby from their home in Georgetown, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico to save us a day of driving. Since we are visiting Georgetown we connected with them again. They live in Sun City, one of the planned communities and residential areas I have been riding my bike. They took us to breakfast this morning at the restaurant connected to the Sun City golf clubhouse. They wanted to show us the life at Sun City. It is a 55+ community with activities and special interest groups happening every day. Click the photo to see the residents woodshop. For $30/year a resident can become a woodshop member and have the use of some fabulous woodworking equipment. I have some of this equipment in our shed back in Oregon but nothing of this size and quality. We were given a tour of the woodshop. I told Gwen if we lived here I'd spend half my time on my bike and the other half in the woodshop. But of course this is too far from my children in Reno. However, this has planted a seed knowing that their are affordable 55+ communities much closer to Reno. It is obvious that Mary and Mike are enjoying their retired life at Sun City.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019: The weather today was cold and wet. Gwen chose to stay home and warm. I chose to visit the Georgetown Visitor Center first. I was able to get several important brochures and much advice from the host lady.

Next I drove to REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) in Austin to check on bicycling shoes and tires. I was disappointed with both.

I plugged the Austin Visitor Center into my GPS which took me seven miles deeper into Austin and into a very busy construction area. I parked three blocks from the visitor center and walked. I was disappointed because all the Austin Center offered was a map and advice of what others like to see. I asked for a bike trail map and none was available. The host circled the areas on the map where bike routes might exist. Also, this was a very difficult center to get to, another source of disappointment. I did see some of the high rise skyline of Austin. Here is an all glass building. Click the photo for a view of the Austin Center entrance.

I did stop at another bike shop on the drive back to Georgetown. This bike shop shared Ride With GPS which seems very useful for someone like me who is always in a new area. He also shared Strava Heat Map, also very useful to me. It highlights the routes most ridden by cyclists who are using the Strava APP.

Monday, October 28, 2019: We treated ourselves this morning to breakfast at Magnolia Table, the restaurant Chip and Joanna renovated in their HGTV show, "Fixer Upper". You can feel Jo's touch in everything from the chairs on the patio, the covered waiting area outside, the font on the signs, menu and floor tiles, and the food choices in the menu. I also felt Jo's presence in the flavors. Click all the photos for enlarged views. Here is the lunch menu. I also liked some of the unique selections on the menu such as a taste of the four juices. The one negative which I documented in a review, I can't give a "five star rating" if the restaurant does not heat their syrup. However, in this case, I would return to Magnolia Table.

Sunday, October 27, 2019: I saw this rooftop camper today at the Waco 70.3 Triathlon.

This type of camper is becoming popular. I see them as half a step up from a tent. In this case, it has a hard top and soft sides. Many of this style have a soft top. You aren't sleeping on the ground and the top may popup in seconds. This unit may have a mattress permanently installed in the base. You can't stand up inside. If you decided to drive anywhere away from the campground the unit must be stowed first.

These units, whether soft or hard top, are expensive and with all the negatives, I don't believe they are worth it.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019: I took myself for another tour of Sulphur, Oklahoma mainly to use the libraries Internet access to post this webpage. Nice library with very quick Internet speeds. After the library I took a walk through downtown Sulphur and discovered some nice walkways and one high class tourist shop. The tourist shop really thinks a lot of their T-shirts, $28.50. The Artisan Hotel is across the street, maybe that's the reason for the high prices. While exploring I found a live Armadillo. I took a short video of what I saw. There are no Armadillos in Oregon so this is our first time to see one in the wild. It was bashful but didn't seem too disturbed at me approaching to take a video.

Click all the photos for more views.

Saturday, October 19, 2019: Larry and Carol took us for a tour of the area. Both Coweta and Broken Arrow certain look healthier than Greenfield, Missouri I toured a couple days ago. After the tour of the downtown areas Larry and Carol took us to one of their favorite restaurants. Carol recommended the "mini omlet" which she and I ordered. Very good, I'd order it again.

After returning home, Larry helped me install a heavy duty roller at the base of the hitch. This helps protect the hitch if it gets too close to the ground.

We will be leaving Coweta tomorrow for the Chicksaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019: This was a driving day from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Columbia, Missouri to retrieve our repaired Mz Ruby. The 347 mile drive took us all day. We arrived at 4 pm to pay the bill and get ready to roll tomorrow morning. The leaking freeze plug and a rusted freeze plug have been replaced. That was the major expense. I also had Freightliner replace the water pump, belt, and several filters since they had most removed to fix the freeze plug. The mechanic has test driven Mz Ruby twice and checked everything which he reported "good". Click the photo for a view of Columbia Freightliner.