Monday, March 8th

The time has come for us to get back in the Travel Mode. We are headed to Tucson for the Monaco Pre-Rally to the FMCA Convention in Albuquerque. Since I’m on the Parking Crew, we have to be in Tucson on Saturday, the 13th. We’re going to Yuma to spend three nights with our friends, the Clarksons, on their newly remodeled estate. While there we hope to look at more properties and possibly make an offer on one. After Yuma we’ll drive to Casa Grande for two nights and be able to visit one of our favorite eating establishments, the Organ Stop Pizza. The pizza isn’t the best in the world, but the entertainment is terrific! We enjoy sitting and watching the 1927 Wurlitzer theater organ mastered by some incredible musicians. We will spend a few days in Tucson and then go to Valley Vista RV Park in Benson, to the Escapee park in Deming, and on up to Albuquerque. We plan to stay at the Elks Lodge in Albuquerque while we enjoy one day of the FMCA Convention and see some friends who live there.

We had planned to go to Las Cruces for a two-week Habitat Build. However, we were informed that the affiliate had goofed and didn’t have a house for us to build. So the Build has been cancelled. We are seriously considering driving to Santa Rosa, CA to visit my Mother and sister for a few days. Then we have to be in Laughlin, NV on April 12th to meet up with some other friends who will be with us at the 21st Annual Baker-to-Vegas Law Enforcement Relay. It’s a foot race relay that goes from Baker to Pahrump to Las Vegas. There are 216 teams of runners from all over the world that will compete on the race. We are going to be at one of the checkpoints assisting in any way we can. It’ll probably be two nights of dry camping in the middle of the desert. We are looking forward to the event and possibly seeing some runners that I may know from my working days.

After the B2V Run, we aren’t sure where we’ll be going. We may head slowly east toward South Dakota via Nebraska, OR we may head back down to San Diego or Yuma to get things settled there. We’re not anxious to get to South Dakota before May 1 for fear of getting into snowy weather. We could stay a while longer in San Diego and enjoy the good weather.

Just a few thoughts - it’s been an interesting winter for us. With the surgery we were parked in one spot longer than we normally do. And it’s been a very good winter season for us. There are a lot of things we’ll both miss greatly. I’ll miss the phone calls from my buddy, Homer, and the opportunity to drive him to his various appointments and errands. I’ll miss all the terrific discussions I’ve had with Bill Large while we were running errands for the church or working around the church grounds. Bill keeps me thinking and pondering the more serious things in life and God’s Creation. We’ll miss the Wednesday Bible study class and the interesting discussions that Pastor Harvey leads. I’ll miss the breakfasts with Dave Dyas and the guys on Thursday morning and Saturday morning. I’ll miss the satisfaction of being able to replace light bulbs, window panes, and toilet flapper valves in the church buildings. And I’ll miss talking with the guys at the AA meetings on Saturday nights and Monday nights. And, of course, I’ll miss our church family that offered us support and friendship while we were parked on the property and involved in the Palisades Church life. I’ll especially miss the morning chats with Janice Klick, our church secretary. These were all a part of our experience while at Palisades Presbyterian Church.

We departed San Diego on Monday morning after delaying our trip from Sunday morning. We awoke Sunday and discovered that our television had breathed its last breath. After warming up, the screen went black. We went to church and left in the rain for Best Buy where we purchased a 24” flat screen TV for the front of the coach. It continued raining all day and we decided to wait until Monday to leave. The weather forecasters were calling for rain mixed with snow over the mountains east of San Diego. We enjoyed staying home and warm in our coach.

On Monday morning we left in a light rain that continued over the mountain until we reached the desert. Once on the desert floor, we had beautiful, sunny skies and a tailwind that followed us to Yuma. Our arrival at Clarkson’s lot was a welcome occasion with a fantastic spaghetti dinner followed by a great game of Pegs’n’Jokers. Our day was complete and we are ready to enjoy a relaxing break in Yuma looking for a lot, unwinding a bit, catching up on emails, sipping some craft brews, and preparing for the Tucson Pre-Rally.