Sunday was another beautiful sunny day. We're enjoying some great weather...even if the wind can be annoying.
Steve headed out with a group on another quad ride....over to him...
Earl led the way to our first stop at the Gold Eye Mine. His neighbours Len and Fran are visiting for their very first time. This is a midden of old cans...
Stone cabin in the distance...
Our next stop was the ancient footprint in the rock. Between the sticks you can see the toes on the left and the heel on the right...
Jim and Len checking out the footprint...
This was to be our final destination to accommodate Lisa's fear of hills but she decided not to come so we continued on to some great hill climbing. If I had known I would have brought my Go Pro camera. Up we go...
Into the next valley. It's much steeper than it looks in a photo.We made our way to the trail that runs beside the I-10 with lots more steep hills...
Our final stop before heading back...
While Steve was gone, I cleaned up inside, did a little work on the laptop...which is really starting to be an exercise in frustration as the internet gets worse and worse with all the folks arriving for the show. After I did what I was able to do, I took my crocheting outside and enjoyed the sunshine.
The group out riding ended up being out much longer than they had originally planned...it was after 3:00 by the time they got back. Steve put his stuff away, got cleaned up and then it was time to go over to Ray and Deb's...they have invited us, along with Jim and Barb over for drinks and dinner.
We sat around a campfire drinking Mai Tai's that Deb and Ray had made... were they ever good!
And then it was time to take the pork rib roast off the barbecue...
Looks delicious, Deb! (picture from Ray)
And it was! We sat outside this time, with a little protection from the wind...
Barb made Creme Brule for dessert...yum!
After dinner we moved back over to the campfire for a bit...and then called it a night. Thanks for a lovely evening, Deb and Ray!
Monday (Jan. 13) morning we headed out just before 9:00...we are going to Los Algodones, MX for my dental appointment. But before heading south towards Yuma, we went into town to fuel up the truck at the Arco station...it seems to have the best price for diesel at $2.96/gal.
The green fields of Yuma are such a sharp contrast to the desert...
Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park...
Colorado River...and the border into California...
As usual, we parked the truck in the massive lot at the border and walked across into Los Algodones. We wandered around a bit...
And then took a table at El Paraiso for an early lunch...and a Margarita, of course!
Steve had his favourite beer...Negro Modello...
Love the atmosphere at this restaurant...
And a selfie...
The bar and live entertainment way in the back...
We arrived at Bernal Dental Group early for my 1:00 appointment, which was good because since I had a knee replacement 3 months ago, I needed to be taking antibiotics before he could do the implant. So Juan sent us off with a fellow who escorted us to a pharmacy where I picked up the antibiotics along with some pain-killers. I immediately took an antibiotic and then we continued onto another place where I had a 3-D scan. We arrived back at the dentist at about 1:20...where we waited until 2:00 (one hour after taking an antibiotic) and I was taken in to have the post put in.
Juan, the receptionist, giving me "thumbs up"...
While I was in having the procedure, Steve went out for a walk and took some pictures of the streets of Los Algodones...The last time we checked there were reportedly 300 dental businesses and 900 dentists in this town! No idea how many pharmacy's and optical businesses but there are lots.
The purple pharmacy is one of the more popular ones but we just found out they are more expensive than some others...
Our dentist Dr. Bernal...the tall sign. He doesn't have people out on the streets (barkers) trying to entice you into his office. Steve had a crown done here and I've had two root canals and crowns done a few years ago...
I was finished about 45 minutes later...we paid our bill ($900 plus $100 for the 3-D scan) and we were on our way back to the border. That is the first part of the implant...I will be back next season to have the crown done. It takes at least 6 months for the bone to grow around the post...the longer, the better.
We were expecting there to be a line-up at the border crossing but we certainly hadn't expected it to be so long! After getting to the back of the line, we started the very slow shuffle to the border. One hour and 40 minutes later, we were finally through and on our walk across the parking lot to our truck. On our way back to I-8 east...
Back through the green fields towards highway 95...
The border surveillance blimp tethered down...with Castle Dome in the background...
We arrived back home just after 6:30...in the dark! That had been a long day...especially the border crossing part!
We were looking forward to a quiet day Tuesday (Jan. 14)...but that wasn't to be! Steve received a phone call from Parker Yamaha about our generator. They had heard back from Honda and wanted us to bring it in today so they could try the troubleshooting.
So we loaded the generator into the truck and headed to Parker. Steve took the generator in, and after talking to Adam, decided he wasn't going to spend anymore money at Parker Yamaha...another $193 plus on top of the $393 already spent! The troubleshooting that Honda suggested had already been done at Ace Hardware. The generator runs fine without the air intake hose, so we loaded it back into the truck and returned to Quartzsite...that was a wasted couple of hours! We'll deal with it when we get back to Canada.
We weren't back long when a red jeep pulled in... it was Alan and Cec, friends we met on our trip to Alaska in 2013. They are staying at an RV park in Quartzsite with friends. We had a quick visit with them before they had to leave. Looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow.
We put up the sunscreen and had a relaxing afternoon...I'm in my happy place sitting outside on a beautiful day!
We ended up having an impromptu happy hour at our place...left to right around the circle, me, Jim, Barb, Vicki, Pam, Red, Harry, Lisa and Dino...
...before moving over to Guy and Sue's for Guy's birthday party. Sue had planned a small gathering to celebrate a milestone birthday. Sue made a delicious birthday cake...
Birthday boy, Guy...and Sue...Happy Birthday Guy!
Dino, me, Lisa, Barb and Jim...
A great gathering and birthday celebration!
Wednesday (Jan. 15) morning Alan and Cec arrived at about 11:00, bringing their GPS so we could load the track for Dripping Springs. They want to take their friends there in their jeeps. We had a fabulous visit with them...next thing we knew it was 2:00! Always great seeing you both!
At 4:30 we took our chairs over to Jim and Barb's where they were having a small beer tasting gathering...Jim, Barb, Dino, Lisa, me, Vicki and Harry...
Treats for Daisy and Dakota...
As you can see, more than just beer was being "tasted"...good thing Barb and Lisa picked up some pizza on their way back from Parker this afternoon...
We had such a fun time...calling it a night at about 10:00.
Thursday (Jan. 16) morning Steve was out making a run to the sani-dump shortly after 7:00. He had pumped yesterday afternoon so was ready to just haul the poop mobile over to dump the first load. It is really busy here and the line ups at the dump station start early.
While he was doing that, I got all the laundry together and when Steve was finished, we were off to the laundromat...again, best to get there early as it gets to be super busy with so many folks here. I got the machines going and then joined Steve at the adjoining restaurant for breakfast. By the time we were finished, the washing machines were done and we loaded it all back into the bags to take home to hang on the line.
The rest of the day was pretty laid back...I spent my time between checking laundry and sitting with my knitting. Steve managed to fly his glider while the wind was calm and then do some odds and ends.
Jim and Barb are busy packing their truck...they hand over the keys to their fifth-wheel to the new owner tomorrow....
Just before 4:00 Steve moved the truck over as a wind break and got the campfire ready, then we all started gathering for happy hour....
We enjoyed another great couple of hours with good friends and then called in an evening about 6:30 and headed in for dinner.
The internet here wasn't that great to start with but now that hundreds more RV's have arrived for the Show, it is pretty much non-existent. So stay tuned as life on the desert continues...we'll get updates out when we can!
