Monday, November 26, 2012 (Midland LTVA, Blythe, CA)

It was 10:30 when we drove out of the LTVA and headed to Blythe with three big bags of dirty laundry...yes, it was laundry day.  Steve dropped me off and then went in search of a haircut.  He walked back into the Laundromat almost two hours later with a very disgusted look on his face...and very short hair.  He was right put off...the fellow cutting his hair did exactly the opposite of what he asked for.  Its okay, honey...it looks fine.  I need a haircut as well...but I think I will wait until we get home!

With laundry done, we ran a couple of other errands and then headed home.  Steve pumped fresh water from the water containers into the trailer while I dealt with all of the clean laundry...and made up the bed.  Whew...work done for the day!

We sat outside relaxing for a bit and then decided to go for a walk.  We basically followed the same route as the other day, doing a big loop.  On our way back we passed Armand and Ann’s, so we stopped and chatted with the group...Armand, Tom (east) and Tom (west)...that’s how they distinguish between the 2 Tom’s...were working on a solar system for Tom (west) and “the girls”, Ann, Lynn and Mary were sitting in the shade.

Back home, we cooled down in the shade for a bit and then headed over to Dennis and Charlene’s for happy hour.  They were sitting outside enjoying a view of their lovely “yard”.  They are on the edge of a wash and have set up bird feeders along with water dishes and a little dog food for the foxes.

Kit foxes frequent the area, so we watched for one to show up.  We weren’t disappointed...as this young fellow came along...

As usual, our happy hour was a little longer than it should have been but we really enjoyed chatting with them....another great evening with our new friends!

Sunday, November 25, 2012 (Midland LTVA, Blythe, CA)

Our plans to get out for an early morning ATV ride were thwarted when Steve checked the pressure on the back tire of my quad to find it had lost a pound of air.  Well, it looks like we will be taking the wheel into a tire shop for repair tomorrow.

However, when Steve took the wheel off he discovered that the problem was a nail...I must have picked it up when we visited the remnants of the old mining site the other day.  Well, at least it is something he can fix himself...sweet!

So, now it is time to fix it...it just doesn't seem right, but the first thing he has to do is make the whole bigger with the tire rasp...

Then he takes another tool and inserts a "pepperoni" plug into the slit in the tool and then pushes it through the whole in the tire...

And voila...fixed...

And back on goes the tire...finished!  Thank you, honey!

It was just before noon when he had finished fixing the tire so we decided to pack our lunch and head out on a ride...yeah, in the heat of the day again...oh well.  Just as we were leaving, Steve said that we should have downloaded some geocaches so that we could go on a hunt...drats, that would have been fun.   We headed out in the same direction as our last ride but this time we planned on continuing further into the mountains heading east and as we got a little ways out, Steve said that his GPS has picked up some geocaches!  They must be the ones from last year that Earl gave us...sweet!  It is so much fun going on a hunt! 

Our first find..."Big Maria"...thank goodness there was a pencil in the cach because we had left unprepared, not expecting to be geocaching.  The last time someone found this cach was in May, 2011...

Now onto our second hunt..."Big Maria 2" a little over 9 miles away...

Some great views...

We found a shady spot to stop for lunch...

And...we made it to our second cach...it was well hidden, but we finally found it...

By this time it was 2:30...we have under two hours to get back home before dark, so we had better get going!  We had a bit of angst when our GPS decided to go "squirrely" on us and not work...great!  It did the same thing last summer when on the GPS run at Three Valley Gap. There was a huge solar storm affecting some of the satellites that weekend...could that be the problem again?  It's a little scary when you can't depend on your GPS to get home...but finally it smartened up and worked properly...whew!

Pretty steep here...

We actually made it home much faster because when the GPS started working, it took us on a more direct route back.  It was about 3:30...another great afternoon ride!

We got cleaned up and then decided to walk over with a drink and visit Armand and Ann.  We sat chatting with them for about an hour and then went back home to make our Sunday evening calls home. 

We had a great chat with Rob and Angie...it had been a few weeks since we spoke with them.  They are doing great and the baby's room is taking shape as well...so exciting...only a couple of months to go until our first grandchild is welcomed into the world!  After that, we got caught up with Steve's sister and brother-in-law, Nadine and Mike...another great chat!  And finally, Chris called once he got home from dinner at Angela's...wonderful talking to everyone!