Let Me Tell You About Our Quest for New Cell Phone..............

service. Becky's contract had expired a month or so ago and mine was due to end on May 25 so we decided to look into service from another carrier. We figured a family plan would be the way to go and also a little cheaper. Since we were doing that we also decided to get an air card for internet service. Of we go to Chico and at Costco we signed up for a new plan plus an air card from Verizon.........they got the best coverage......that you know if you listen to their tv advertisements. We headed home with our new phones and Becky making phone calls on the way home. Everything fine. I plug in my cell phone to charge the battery and don't try to use it. The next day I try to hook up the air card to the 'puter. Lottsa problems and finally I called the Tech service for Verizon. I had to use my old phone from Sprint as the Verizon phone was working sorta half-assed. Got the air card working but service was so terrible that just about everything would time out before I could get on line. Phones, both of them, kept dropping calls. I drove around until I could use the Verizon phone and ended up near the I5 freeway where I could see a cell tower. Found out that Corning had some Bermuda Triangles where Verizon would not work. We were in the triangle. Solution.........Verizon told me they could sell me a cell phone booster for $200.00. I told them we'd look for another carrier.

Back to Chico, trade in phones and air card, get money back and then we sign up for AT&T. Everything find when we get home, phones working fine; however, we skipped getting a new air card from AT&T. Then, after my contract expired, I tried to switch over my phone number from Sprint as I was told that this would be no problem when contract expired. To make a long story short I found out that I couldn't keep my old phone number since it was a different area code.

Back to Chico..........we turn in my new phone and end result is Becky now has AT&T and I'm staying with Sprint and my old phone number.

Took us three days and over 200 miles of driving to get the cell phone problem taken care of.........at least Becky has a new touch screen phone..........which she has been reading up on for the last few days. It keeps her busy. The first call she received she had problems trying to answer it as she hadn't "checked the directions" yet.

I should have looked into Jitter Bug!!

W

Still Warm........Maybe Even Hot............

around here. Washington Morris' hauled ass out of here about 0700 Monday morning and we get a call about 1445 that they are pulling into the driveway. Amazingly, no speeding tickets.

Received notification that friends we know from Yuma had found one of my caches in Corning so I sent them an email and asked them to call. Tom and Sue (Riffraff2) gave us a call and then stopped by around noon on Tuesday. We had a pleasant visit and, since it was Old Folks Day, we went to the casino for lunch. Good lunch and we did a little caching after that until the heat got to us. They are staying at Los Molinos and will probably be around for a few more days before heading further North.

Tomorrow is head for Woodland for the weekend and then we expect to drive up to Arnold, CA to visit with Jim and Linda..........more cachers from Yuma. They are up in the "hills" at about 4000 feet elevation so maybe that'll be a good way to try and beat the valley heat. Should be interesting as they don't have TV, internet or cell phone service. I'll haul my Dish Network dish with me and maybe I'll be able to find a "hole" in the trees for satellite reception.

More later. W&B

Doug, Tami and Twerps...............

arrived yesterday about 1600 from Washington. Not much time left in the day so after gobbling up some burgers and hot dogs Becky, Tami and I headed for the casino. I stopped there briefly earlier and quit the slots when I was ahead of the bandits. This time they got it back and then some. Spent about a hour and lost $10.00 (plus my earlier winnings). Guess I'll just chaulk it up to entertainment.

This morning we headed for breakfast at the casino...........a lot easier then trying to cook. I left another $3.00 with my "Red Brothers" and then we headed for Chico. Trace had to add another skateboard park to his list so we found this nice little park near downtown Chico. Dropoffs were easy and it's a nice little park. When it started getting crowded we headed for Old Navy. Apparently they were having a dollar sale on flip flops. Becky stood in the check out line while Tami and Cassidy loaded up on flip flops. It still took a looonng time to get through the check out line so Dug, Trace and I set outside and observed the "scenery"............at least Dug and I did. Love this warm, almost summer months...............it exposes nearly everything.

After Old Navy we decided it was too crowded to continue.........so where do we go (?)......Costco of course. It was nearing noon so we grazed our way through all the food stands. Some good.......some not so good. Becky and I signed up for new cell phone service since her present contract expired and mine will in two more days. We also got an air card for the internet. Naturally you don't think to ask the proper questions until it's late when you've already made a purchase. In Corning the reception from Verizon isn't the greatest so the air card works; but, not too fast. I need to hunt down a different area serviced by Verizon to really get a good idea of how well the air card will work. It'll beat nothing I guess.

Tami, Becky and the Twerps went over to Judy's and tried out her swimming pool for a little while. It wasn't that warm today so they didn't last too long before they came home.

Don't know what tomorrow will bring........maybe we can find another skate board park for Trace.

Later, W&B

Hey, It's Kinda Cooled Down............

the last couple of days and almost tolerable. Been taking it easy; but, the weather was so nice and cool this morning that I went out and hacked down the weeds in the lawn.

You're probably wondering why I'm posting these pictures..............the last few days I've noticed some old guy sitting in front of the Post Office with a little card table set up. I never paid any attention to him; but, yesterday this car was parked across from the P.O. Thought it was kinda funny........apparently the local D.A. and Judge have pissed off a few people and the old guy had a petition to recall the D.A. and Judge. Probably nothing will come of it; however, the O.G. is getting his day in the public eye.

I planted three new caches the other day and as of today one remains unfound. Only one cacher has posted a DNF...........guess the others won't admit that they can't find it as I know others have been out looking for it. This was a La84fishn hide that I stole from him while in Yuma. Guess they haven't seen it before around here.

Well, not much going on except I went out the Casino this morning and had two cokes that cost me $10.00 each! Tomorrow Old Folks day so might head out that way for breakfast.........although Becky swears she's going to start eating "right" so I might just have to make the trip by myself.

Later. W&B

Back From The Weekend at Woodland..........

and presently swealtering in the heat...........although Becky ses it ain't even warm yet! Reached triple digits while in Woodland so sure am glad we chose to stay at the Woodland Fairgrounds as I had the A/C running for two days.

This was a dual happy BD and Mother's Day celebration for "B" since we were in WA when those two days rolled around. She and Rhonda spent Saturday shopping and getting pampered with manicures, pedicures and full body massage cures. Saturday evening Steve cooked up some sumptous ribeye steaks that were done to perfection. Sunday, baseball practice for Brutus and Steve so Rhonda, Jace, "B" and myself when to breakfast at the local diner for biscuits and gravy. This diner used to make sausage gravy from scratch; but, think they joined the pre-mix circuit. Gravy still good but not like it used to be.

I made it out to Cache Creek Casino on Saturday afternoon all by my lonesome. I drove into the parking lot to be greeted with about 15 tour buses. The joint was packed. I found that I had $20.00 worth of "free play" on my players card so used that up plus $10.00 of my own. Wandered around, played a couple more machines and finally left $6.00 ahead. That just about paid for my gas.

Today we ran a few errands in Corning, stopped by the local Jeep dealer to see what they had in stock and came on home. Been kinda thinking of a Jeep Wrangler to handle the really rough stuff around Yuma; but, today's little excursion kinda put that on hold. Oh well, somewhere out there I'm sure there's a Jeep for sale that the owner isn't in love with. I did find out one thing though...........the driver's seat doesn't fit me worth a crap.........I need a 4 inch high cushion to sit on just to see both front fenders! Old age must be shrinking me..........I used to be 5'10" and now I'm 5'7" (???)

Planted three geocaches this morning and now waiting for them to get published. Not as fast to publish around here as it is in Yuma.

Getting to hot to do anything else today so guess I'll just kick back and forgo my 4 mile run today. Later. W&B

Friday............

and hot weather is expected. Low to mid 90s today and triple digits for Sat and Sun. Bummer! Yesterday was nice so Becky and I decided that maybe we should look for some geocaches that were placed while we were in Arizona. Something like 46 popped up when I ran a search so we hunted down 18 of them and have lots more to go. Placed one cache that I copied off my good buddy La84fishn from his Arizona caches. Haven't seen any like it around here so hoping it will drive the locals a little nutso. Still have a couple more to place when I find the right area so that will have to wait until next week when we get back from Woodland.

Went to Chico Wednesday evening and took in a Mid-Week Meet and Greet Event at a pizza joint. Had a bottomless salad and still ate too much. Met a few more people whom we only know by their names and visited some old faces.

Heading South some time this morning to spend weekend with Rhonda's family. They haven't celebrated Mother's Day or Becky's BD yet so they'll do that this weekend. We're going to check in at the Fair Grounds where they have an RV park with full hook-ups. Figure we'll need the air conditioning this weekend so it'll be worth the $$$s. We normally park in front of Steve and Rhonda's house and just run an extension cord for electricity. Can't use the A/C with that set up. We'll probably head back to Corning Sunday afternoon to contend with the heat. It's supposed to be HOT all next week and beyond.

Outta give Doug, Tami and the Twerps a nice welcome as they are driving down for Memorial Day weekend from Washington.

Well, gotta load up some goodies in the M/H........just wanted to post a quick update before I unplug the computer. Will take it with me in case we can find an open wifi signal at the fair grounds. Later. W&B

N.U.T.S. Campout Out Event Over...........

and we got home yesterday afternoon. Here's some pics of the event. Event was held at Red Bluff, CA in a nice little park managed by the Forest Service. They had an RV Park and picnic areas along the Sac River. A great place for the nature lover and hiker............neither of which I am. Weather was cooperating and even a bit "warm" for me. Pictures above are the picnic area where activities were held. "Rock" is one of the big guns behind the NUTS (Northstate Unusual Treasure Seekers) and I guess this accounts for his BIG NUT. Also, he's the one who makes them up. Members receive a "little" nut for 1000 finds and a bigger nut for finding 2000 caches. Becky and I both joined N.U.T.S. before the event so we were presented with our 1000 and 2000 nuts.

A local school teacher teaches Natural Resources at Red Bluff High School and his class placed 15 caches for the event. They seemed to be pretty independent in their placements and they were told NOT to place any caches in trees. So much for directions............The first one we went looking for turned out to be in the tree. Lucky for us Crystal (of RockNCrystal) made the climb for us Old Folks. It was nasty as well as other caches the high school kids placed. B & I didn't find too many of them as we were running out of time on Sunday and had to move the M/H before 1400. Lots of caches in Red Bluff so we'll be back from time to time to try and hunt them down.


This was the presentation of awards and a number of cachers received their "Nuts". Crystal presented the nuts and since I got two nuts I also received two big hugs. Eat your heart out Larry!

Everyone who signed the attendance log was also asked to sign a walking stick the events hosts had prepared. An interesting Travel Bug was the Event Crasher who only attends events. He originated in Maine and somehow or other has made his way to the West Coast.

It was a fun 2 1/2 days and there is talk of making it an annual event. Will have to wait and see on that. Met lottsa new faces and one cacher even gave me a coin. He had found my cache Muttley a couple of years ago and apparently enjoyed it enough that he presented me with an unactivated geocoin. A nice surprise.

Weather gonna be nice for a while so guess we'll get out and about and take advantage of it.

Later, W&B

Here We Sit at an RV Park.............

close to the Geocaching Event that actually starts tomorrow. The camp hosts are the people sponsoring the event. We arrived about 1100, shot the breeze with some folks we have met before and then set up my MTV and internet dish. Had a dickens of a time getting the TV dish working. I finally had to change the LNB and BINGO........had it up and running in no time flat. The old LNB had fallen over so many times, it's cracked and duct taped together, that I couldn't get it properly lined up. Took the LNB off our dish in Yuma before we left so glad I did that. The internet dish was a breeze after messing with the DISH dish. Nice little RV park here, they have electricity and water; but, no sewer or dump station. Good thing we're here for only two days or we'd be overflowing.

The NUVI was dinging like crazy when we drove in as it picks up geocaches that are within 500 feet. Will try to hike to a bunch of them along the trails tomorrow...........probably won't be able to walk on Sunday. Sunday at least 15 new caches are going to be placed in the area. Should be fun looking for them.

Didn't realize it when we signed up for the event but Corning is having their annual "Show and Shine" this weekend. There'll be a bunch of Classic Cars in town, plus some "junk" in progress. Tonight is the free hot dog mixer at the Ford dealership; but, we'll probably miss that. It's only a 20 minute drive back to Corning and mixer starts in an hour....... decisions, decisions.

We've found three caches on our way to KFC..........we had coupons for their "free grilled chicken"; but when we arrived they had a big sign on the door that said we could turn in our coupons and a "raincheck" will be mailed to us. Guess KFC stepped on the end of their crank when they offered "free chicken". We turned in our coupons and they said the rainchecks will be mailed to us.............yeah right. We left and went across the street to MacBurger.

It's starting to get warm..........guess we'll survive since we have electricity so gonna make good use of the A/C as long as we're paying for it.

More later, maybe with pics. W&B

Wednesday.......I Think..........

We left Vancouver sometime Monday morning and pulled into the Seven Feathers Casino to spend the night, feed our faces and get rich on the slot machines. Well, we managed to spend the night in the rain, feed our faces and unfortunately we took very good care of my "red brothers". Had a nice dinner though, I had steak and lobster and Becky chose two lobster tails and skipped the steak. Breakfast at the casino on Tuesday morning and we left with a couple of dollars of casino money..........not enough to make up for Monday. Oh yeah, Becky also picked up her Seven Feather's BD gift.........which happened to be a flashlight which is battery operated and you can also recharge it by squeezing the handle. She also received $5.00 on her player's card and a big bag of jerky..............she chose Jalapeno since she knows that I won't touch anything that might even be remotely HOT!

Weather finally cleared up and we had a nice drive the rest of the way to Corning. It was actually "warm" when we got home; but, had a forecast of rain coming in. So, while Becky got started on 10 days of laundry, I mowed the weeds. Partially unloaded the M/H (I'm not sure why since we are leaving again on Friday) and now guess we'll be reloading tomorrow. We got home in time to head for the casino for "Old Folks" lunch so pigged out on the buffet. My favorite slot machine was occupied so finally picked one out that I had never played before. It gobbled up my $20.00 and I was down to my last $2.24 cents when up pops a BONUS. I was awarded 100 free slot spins and when everything was completed I cashed in $258 and some change. We left shortly thereafter. Becky got $10.00 of slot play for her BD and nothing else. Our casino is cheaper than Seven Feathers!

Today was "go to Chico" day and we headed for Costco so Becky could pick up her new glasses. Haven't heard her complaining so guess they got her new prescription right this time.

Geocaching event in Red Bluff that starts on Friday so we'll spend two overnights there in an RV park and come home on Sunday. Lots of caches in Red Bluff so maybe we'll be able to make up for the caching we haven't been doing and add a few numbers. We joined N.U.T.S. (Northstate Unusual Treasure Seekers) and we should be presented with a Big Nut for finding over 2,000 caches. They guzzy up walnuts for 1,000 and 2,000 finds and with the 2,000 finds they present you with a BIG decorated walnut. 1,000 finds qualifies you for a smaller walnut. Should be fun and we'll see cachers we know and most likely meet some new ones. No rain in forecast and temps expected to be in low 70s so it should be a nice weekend.

Later, W&B

"Old Folk" Birthday Today............

We started at Dug & Tami's house and they presented Becky with a big bunch of roses. Everyone had to join in a picture and then Becky and I headed for Red Robin, hopefully to have seating for 10 before everyone arrived. Someone placed a little sign on the back of Becky's Sweat Shirt (????). Other pics are of our "Hamburger Dinner". The waiters/waitresses stopped by and sang HBD to Becky and then they brought her a large sundae for desert...........which we all ate. End of dinner, attendees the Morris Clan, Tami's brother Mark and his Sweetie and Old Friends, John and Charlene. Some lady offered to take the last picture and we all appeared in it.


"B" and I started the day by heading for the Mall...........things she bought a few days ago didn't fit so back to exchange them. This we got accomplished and naturally the items that would fit were now sold out. So off to another store and will I watched the "scenery" she was shopping some more. Back across the river to WA and I pick up the head light housings I had ordered for the Rhino. Dropped some stuff off at Dug's house and we came back to the park. She tries on the stuff she just bought...........naturally it doesn't fit properly.





About 1700 we head back to Dug's house and I find out the headlight housings are still the wrong ones. I'm having as much luck in my purchases as is Becky.


Everyone's home so we leave for Red Robin at 1800. Becky and I arrive first and I tell them we expect 10 peopple for dinner at 1830. Finally, about 1900 we get a table for 10. Food was pretty good for a hamburger joint and the waiter took real good care of us. Cassidy asked Becky to go with her and she had fun leading Becky around with her sign still on her back. We didn't tell her about the sign until we had finished dinner.

Fun dinner and we all ate too many french fries.