Sunday Evening....................

and we made it home to Corning about 1400. Didn't even stop at the casino! Got a bunch of stuff unloaded, my MTV going and even have the internet satellite dish up and running so "B" won't go into withdrawals. Supper, long, hot shower so will kick back with the tube as soon as I post this.

Saturday we went to Brutie's (Bryce) baseball game but we left early. Brutie was legging it out for a single, crossed first base and turned his head toward second base. Big mistake as he caught a wild throw right in the chops from the second baseman. End of baseball for the day. It cut his lip and may have loosened up some teeth; but, he's a tough kid so he'll be OK. It did end the ballgame for us though as Mom went in search for some aspirin so we all left.

Greeted with some decent weather, probably high 60s when we got to Corning but I might be in search of the electric heater later on this evening as it cooled down pretty quickly.

Had a summons to jury duty waiting for me in the mail. Supposed to go to Red Bluff on April 4th. Will have to call them tomorrow and let them know I won't be around the following week; but, will show up on the 4th. It might be interesting and I could probably earn ten bucks or so.
Such a deal.

Will post this and retire to the tube. Later. W&B

Friday Afternoon About 1400..............

and we just pulled into Rhonda and Steve's house in Woodland. Plugged into electricity so we're set for a night or two. Weather good..........so far. Just about froze our butts off last night at the Harris Ranch. Thermometer read 50 degrees when we woke up and neither of us wanted to start the generator or turn on the furnace. She outwaited me.

Think there's a baseball game tomorrow we'll go to and then just kick back and see if anything is planned for the weekend. Right now Becky is waiting for Rhonda and then they'll go pick up the boys from school in about an hour. I'll get this published and then go watch some MTV on Steve's big screen.

Later. W&B

Leaving Port Hueneme Tomorrow..............

and will probably stop at Harris Ranch for a good dinner and overnight in their parking lot. Iffy wifi connection here on the base..........getting signal from a motel several blocks away. We went caching with Mommyx4, plus Dad yesterday and had a good time. Those kids can climb over, under and through stuff to get to a cache and they sure save the wear and tear on this old guy! Here are some pics of our day with the Martins, Dennis, Lisa, David, Rachel, Jacob and the youngest one was Ryan. Ryan is about 2 years old and spent most of his day in their SUV either sleeping or watching TV. We had a good time and found about 10 caches, got skunked on the last one so we called it a day.

Today Becky's Old Bud had to see her doctor and wasn't feeling well the last couple of days so I never did get to meet her. At least Becky was able to spend time visiting on Monday. Oh yeah, I met a new "friend" down on the docks.

Today B and I went out to look for some of the caches we missed yesterday and found another 4 or 5. Ended up with fish and chips at a little joint on the beach, pretty good dinner.

I keep losing wifi connection so will try to post this. Later W&B

Arrived Port Hueneme............

about 1400 today. Boy...........DO NOT trust GPS mapping if the program is kinda old. Also, do not trust Becky's memory (well it has been 10 years since she was last here) for directions. I went past a turn that led to the CB Base and then turned off on a side street so I could get back on track. Big Mistake!! I went down a dead end street, actually there was a cul de sac there and I would have been OK to turn around if it wasn't for parked vehicles and a barrier where work was in progress. Eventually made it back to the CB base; however, came in wrong entrance and was still lost. Anyway, we are finally parked, have cable TV and I'm "borrowing" a wifi signal from someplace. Becky is off to see her Old Bud and I'm just kicking back for the rest of the afternoon. Temperatures NICE............I would guess low 70s.

We were all set to have dinner at the casino buffet last night.................until we saw the prices. It seems they were having a "special" Easter buffet. Theme was seafood. Price was $34.95 per person. We found a snack bar and had a snack. Contributed to my Red Brothers for awhile. What we lost could have paid for one buffet. I should have sent Becky in with a large plastic bag.

Getting through LA wasn't as bad as I expected. We took a slight detour north and kinda by passed LA by taking Highway 210. A couple of traffic fender benders slowed us down; but, we're in no hurry anyway so got through OK.

Gonna meet Mommyx4 tomorrow for some local caching. We met her family in Yuma and her husband works while she and her 4 kids spend a good deal of time geocaching. The kids are home schooled and they're a neat family who move on to a new post every 4 months or so. Right now they are in Oxnard. Will be fun keeping in touch with them.

That about wraps up our adventure since last night. Later. W&B

157 Miles From Yuma................

at 1600 today. Think we finally got out of Yuma shortly before noon after filling up with propane and gas. Approximately $130.00 later we were on our way. Came up through Brawley and took the Eastern Route along the Salton Sea. Considered briefly stopping to see Old Leonard at Salvation Mountin but opted to drive on by. Did stop and take a few pictures of Salton Sea; but, nothing to write home about. At least we saw some different country...................only it still looked about the same to me. Got to Indio and pulled into the Fantasy Springs Casino which is located just off the highway. Got generator and air conditioner running so thought I'd turn on the computer..........picked up a wifi signal from Holiday Inn so will make use of it before we grab the little shuttle golf cart to the casino. Will probably check out the buffet and contribute a few bucks to my Red Brothers. Still kinda warm but should cool down for sleeping later. About 200 miles from Port Hueneme and I'm not looking forward to driving through Los Angeles. Oh Well.................just take it slow and easy I guess. Later. W&B

Got A Few Things...................

to do in the morning before we get underway. This morning I enlisted the help of Frank to take a cache way up on top of a hill. I've named it "110 degrees" and my intention is to have it published in July when temperatures in Yuma break the 110 mark. The local guru, JJ, is aware of it so I'm hoping to get him out into the desert to search during sweltering temperatures. I didn't make it all the way to the top but Frank prevailed so now it just sits waiting for activation. In the third picture you see the Suzuki, top center. The center picture is all that remains of a hiker who apparently lost his way! My right knee is paying the price this afternoon for my feeble attempt to reach the top. It'll be worth it though.

Frank and I stopped at Ligurta (scene of the traffic ticket) to grab a burger and then we went on down the road for another cache. Becky and I found it at night so never got to actually see this old house. Gate was open so we snuck in and browsed around. This was probably a fascinating house in it's time. Vandals have made shambles out of it now but I bet it was a beauty in its day!

Last night we went out to Sue and Frank's for another bar-b-que. We were joined by Jack and Purcilla, and Nate and Nina. I could get used to this idea of bumming food from here and there. Check Becky's Blog for some pics.

Just about have everything ready to roll, just some last minute things in the morning, pay the electric bill, stow away water stuff and the TV satellite dish. I've already taken down the internet dish so am "borrowing" a signal from somewhere nearby. At least Becky won't go into withdrawals for awhile. We'll arrive in Port Heneme on Monday and leave there on Thursday morning. Take two days to get to Woodland for the weekend and should get to Corning on April Fools' Day. Later. B&W

Thursday And Getting Closer To "Go" Date..............

Got up this morning expecting that caching was about done and last night and again this morning new caches showed up. Naturally they were pretty close so away we went. At the first one we met the same group we had been caching with the previous day. Grabbed the first one and had to do a little climbing to reach the second one. Done for the day. We had some money left in our casino fund so went down to the Paradise to see if I had accumulated enough points for some kind of a comp. I was a little short, on Monday Becky received $10.00. I had previously cashed in my points, last year so need some more. We took our remaining kitty and played some slots for a considerable time............but as always, we finally got whupped. Back home, loaded up the Rhino and need a little more work stowing stuff away inside the M/H. Won't have much to do before we leave on Sunday and since we're only traveling 150 miles we're in good shape to go. Just need to pack up satellite dishes and softwater system on Sunday.

Here's a collage of our day. First two pics are of the two caches we found today. The white truck are visitors from Oregon and our friend Buzzcut with one of his friends. About 1800 we drove over to Jeep'en Jumpers for a Buffalo Burger Bar-B-Que. Robert and Char were our hosts and other geocachers were Mr. & Mrs. La84fishn, Larry and Audrey, from Gresham, OR, Bronco Busters, Ed and Linda, who live in Winterhaven, Gideon X, Robert, and uws22, Brian, a high school teacher from Wisconsin. He taught here this year and will returning home to resume new duties in Wisconsin. The burgers and fixins were excellent and we had a super nice time revisiting the winter geocaching season, telling lies and learning about everyones plans for the summer. We'll see Larry and Audrey when we get back to the NW and we'll see Robert and Char at the grand GeoWoodstock Event in May. This event will be held about 80 miles from Corning and since it's a "Mega" geocaching event we just gotta go! We'll probably also meet up again with other Arizona cachers who we've become acquainted with.

Tomorrow we'll go out to see Frank and Sue and we'll have another Bar-B-Que. This afternoon our next door neighbors invited us over for a campfire, smores and conversation and since we were busy tonight and tomorrow we'll drop by their place on Saturday. Boy, we could really get used to this!!

Gonna call it a day. Later. B&W

March 19 And Fo's BD................

so we headed to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner and to help the Old Guy celebrate. Unfortunately, in the first picture you can't see what's going on........it appears that the waiter was flirting with Frank and Fo was paying more attention to him then to the rest of us! It was a day fit for a King so Frank was seated next to the "throne". After dinner and chit chat we drove out to Frank and Suz' park for more chit chat. Poor guy, now that he's older it seems he has difficulty staying awake so B and I headed down the road and we all left Frank snoozing in his favorite chair.

The Texas Roadhouse is a bit weird, as are most roadhouses where they expect you to throw peanut shells on the floor. Most places will help a birthday celebration by having the waitresses and waiters gathering around and singing the old standby of "Happy Birthday". Here the celebrant is seated on a stand with a saddle, the waiter announces his age and invites everyone to give the birthday person a resounding "YEE HA" on the count of three. This we did; however, the official photographer was aiming her camera too high so we missed out on having pictures of Frank seated on the saddle. Oh well, he still got his "YEE HA". Food was good............well very good. We shall return; but, not until October or November.

Happy Birthday Old Guy...........we'll do it again next year! Wayne & Becky

Thought Our Caching Was Done For..............

the season........Not! Red Buggy Man published 4 new caches in the desert just a couple of miles north of us.

Well, we had to go looking. The first one left us shaking our heads and we moved on to the next ones. We got them and ran into some other cachers so we all converged back on the first one. After a bit of poking around and getting scratched up by the thorns Becky was poking her walking stick in the middle of the trees and came up with a loud "thunk". She had the cache and it was #35 First To Find.

Guess we can leave here knowing that we got our weekly FTF! We've had 26 FTFs since we arrived in November so guess we averaged a bit better than one a week. I think we've found around 250 or more caches this winter............can't remember our numbers when we arrived but we've found a few and it's really been slow the last month.

Still working on getting ready to leave on Sunday and it looks like we'll make it. Going out to dinner with Frank and Suzannah to celebrate Franks birthday tomorrow, got one more trip to the casino to get our Old Folks money and that will just about wrap up the season.

Oh yeah, my "donation" to the Wellton Justice Court is $286.00. If I go to an old folks driving class the bail can be reduced. I don't feel like sitting in a classroom so guess I'll pay my dues.

In addition to sending gas money, you can also contribute to my bail bond fund. All proceeds accepted. Later. W&B

HOLY ICE CUBES BATMAN!!...........

I don't think it got above 61 degrees today! Froze our butts off all day long. A new cache appeared on the horizon this morning so after grabbing a bite to eat we headed out to find it............it was only a couple of miles away. Arrived on the scene and 3 people already looking, we looked, 3 more arrived, looked some more, 1 more arrived and a little later 1 more showed up. We looked for almost and hour and finally gave it up. Submitted a "no find" for the cache as did some others. Later I received a call from the cache owner and he said his coordinates were wrong...........the cache was about 500 feet from where we were looking. Good thing we don't know where he lives otherwise about 10 of us would have been throwing rocks at his house!

We might go back tomorrow and look it up since we now have the correct location. I did manage to get some cubby holes cleaned out and repacked. Got the Rhino almost ready to load up, checked air pressure in all the rigs and goodies stowed away. Old Folks day at the casino tomorrow and we'll have to go down since this will be our last chance for "free money". Saturday we went out to the Cocopah casino and I checked my points. They said since this would be the first time I cashed them in I could get $20.00 cash. Why not I ses...........played slots with the $20.00 and finally left there with $38.00. That'll probably pay for about 10% of my traffic ticket.

Weather should be warming up after our "cold snap" and I figure everything should be loaded up and ready to roll by Friday.

More later if anything happens. B&W

Getting Closer To Leaving....................

however, not getting any closer to getting things packed up and ready to leave. I did start Becky's list of things to do. Now I gotta think of a method of motivation. Did nothing today except the laundry. An Elvis impersonator was in town tonight for a benefit for kids so we had tickets for that and went to the show this evening. Suz and Frank were supposed to go but Sue feeling crummy after her ocean cruise so they were unable to make it. They gave their tickets to another couple and we saw them at the performance. The Elvis impersonator, Scot Bruce, wasn't too bad but the makeshift band he had backing him up tended to drown him out on occasion. None the less it was entertaining. He kept trying to get people up and dancing but without too much success. I guess he didn't realize that the average age of concert attendees was about 86. Most of us don't even buy green bananas anymore let alone get up and dance!!

Tried to take pictures.......flash was not allowed so most of them didn't turn out too well. Here's a bit of a collage of "Elvis". The band was playing first and I kept seeing "Elvis" peeping out of a doorway so got his picture as he was coming on to the stage, and a couple more during performance. All for now. W&B

BUSTED..........continuation

Finally got a copy of insurance card and called courthouse. Was told that the deputy probably wouldn't get his report filed until next week. Told them I was leaving the area. No comment, repeated they couldn't give me more info until report filed. Went back to "hiding area" and scattered nails.

Well, actually didn't do that, have to find something that will "guarantee" a flat tire. We did stop by the hiding place, the same spot where I had placed a geocache, and we picked up a bunch of caches that we had placed. Got two more caches to pick up and then a local cacher will watch 4 for me that I'll leave in place. They probably won't get much more action the rest of the year.

HOT, HOT today, think it reached 88 and two more days of the same and then maybe a bit of a cool down.

Gotta start getting ready to leave.........my job consists of making a list for Becky to do!!!

Later. W&B

B U S T E D !!!...............

last night!! Yo T-Bone, remember when you joked that we might need a "Bail Bond Fund"......well, you can be the first to contribute. A new cache was published shortly after 1900 last night.......it was dark but we decided to go look for it anyway as it was about 16 miles east of us. I turned off the freeway onto an alternate highway, speed limit 65, passed through a little wide spot in the road that housed a closed restaurant and drove past Mr. Deputy hiding by an underpass. Red lights flashing and he pulled me over. He said speed limit was 45 by restaurant and I was going 63. Then I didn't have an up-to-date insurance card and since I pay insurance on line the insurance card was probably sent to WA. He added "failure to have proof of insurance" to my charges. Got to appear in court on March 31.........unfortunately we won't be here then. Maybe we'll have to spend future winters in another state!

All that, and we didn't even get the cache first! Today was old folks days and I walked away from the casino $20.00 ahead.............at least that's a start on paying my ticket. Guess I'd better call them tomorrow and see what the damage will be. Spent a good part of the morning trying to get an insurance card mailed to me and finally I was able to get a copy of the card on line.

Stay tuned. All for now. W&B

Oh yeah.....the deputy has a good thing going at this particular spot, we returned the same way and he had another car pulled over about the same spot he captured me! Wonder if there's any "kick back" going on for tickets written???

"Midnight At The Oasis".................

got underway on Friday with a parade that ended up at the Civic Center for their Show and Shine today. Not exactly up to Hot August Night standards in Reno; but, there were quite a few nice old cars that showed up for the event. The parade wound through the parking lot of the defunct K-Mart store and that turned out to be a pretty nice viewing area. We arrived at the parking lot about 1630 and had to wait for about 35 minutes before the first cars showed up. We were entertained by a Canuck from the Vancouver, BC area who was a lot of fun to talk to. He even shared his french fries from the Jack-In-The-Box near where we parked. They had everything from a Rat Patrol Jeep, complete with 50 cal. machine gun, and my favorite, a 1955 (or was it a 1956) Thunderbird with three blonds. Some Old Granny Lady was jammin all by herself in a Chevy and leaving lottsa tire tread in a series of short burn outs. She was a crowd pleaser too! After the parade we had a bite to eat at the JITB and then came on home.

Lazy day today.......we haven't gone anyplace. Frank stopped by this morning......looks like he's almost over the crud and will surrive until Suz gets back from her cruise. He said he's been working on a list of things for her to do when she gets back. Smart move.............I would never have thought of that.

Later. W&B

Another Old Folks Day.............

at the casino so we went out long enough to collect our $5.00. I eventually quit $13.20 ahead. Stopped by the Marine Corps Base for some grocery goodies and now home for the rest of the day. Wind picked up last night and continued through most of the day so there wasn't much we needed to get done anyway. Temps still in the 70s though. Yesterday was our "wash day" so we've been close to home for two days. Did stop by yesterday to see if Frank is doing OK (he has the Yuma Crud again). He's alive and kicking but his tail feathers are still drooping. Probably too much party time in Mexico......those young Senoritas will make you old before your time!

Everytime we head to the Cocopah Casino we're going too fast to stop and take pictures of this hedge. Today was the day......we finally made the stop and Becky took these pictures. Betcha you don't see many hedges of this nature!

We finally got a firm "leave Yuma date". We'll be departing on March 24 and will stop in Port Hueneme to visit one of Becky's Old Buds. She lives near the base so we have reservations at the base RV park for three days and will visit and explore the area. Leave there on the 27th and should arrive in Woodland on the following Saturday.

Need to replace a tire on the trailer, ran it down here without enough air in the tires so outter edges worn down. Do you think I can find this odd ball size trailer tire in this area? NO! May have to order it; but, still got plenty of time to have it ready to roll. Damn trailer tire costs about as much as a car tire that's twice the size. Getting M/H washed and waxed tomorrow so will have another day close to home. Labor is still pretty cheap......$125.00 to wash and wax M/H. Other places at least twice as much so now is time to get it done.

Later. W&B

Weekend Over -- Time For W.O.R.K...................

Spent lazy weekend.......Saturday we took in an action packed movie.....funny, I can't seem to remember the name or even what it was about. Stopped at the casino for a little while after movie and I won $32.00 (I think Becky lost about what I won so it was a wash). Stopped at the grocery store and called it a day. Wind picked up Saturday night and it was blowing like crazy on Sunday. I stayed home and "B" headed for the Mall......she was having withdrawals and just HAD TO GO. She bought me a new pillow for the couch. I cleaned up some of the cubby holes in the M/H and that took care of Sunday. The guy who placed a cache without a logbook finally got it fixed and published again. Called Don and Buzzcut and we drove back to the Range this morning to find and get the log signed. Another mile hike (round trip to the downed drone). Found log, got it signed and hope this is our last trip to this one. We took Buzzcut to one we had previously found and he made the hike over rocks, through the wash and after a long time he finally found the cache. He's somewhere out there in pics 3 and 4. A Border Patrolman drove up, we had seen his truck earlier, and hiked up to where we were watching for Buzzcut. Had a nice chat with him while waiting for BC. He asked if we had came up the trail and we said yes. It seems we sat off sensors that were monitoring the trail and he had to go check them out. We learned that there were different types of sensors scattered throughout the bombing range. Some magnetic, on the roads, some infared and some that sounded alarms from ground vibrations when people traversed certain areas. He said there were even sensors placed on the mountain tops that were occasionally tripped, when that happened whoever was on duty had to climb up the mountain to check and reset them. These guys pull 12 hour shifts. He waited until Buzzcut returned to the car and then followed us out of the area. He turned North and we headed Southwest for another cache at Cipriano Pass. The road was pretty good in and we found the cache without much trouble. Had to climb aways up over some large rocks but it wasn't too difficult. Becky must have been really intrigued by this one big rock.........she took a ton of pictures of it. Look closely at it and let your imagination run wild.

Came back to town, the car battery was about dead so had it checked out. Bad battery so got a new one and then went to the casino for our Old Folks Money. Got our money placed on our cards; but, the casino was crowded so we left and will go back in a day or so and gamble our moneys away.

End of Monday.......another 3 weeks and we'll be heading for California. W&B