Went Geocaching After Dark..............

last night. Checked the 'puter and discovered a new cache had been published about 20 minutes before I checked. It was 1.28 miles away, out in the desert. I told "B" that we should go get it, maybe get a FTF (First To Find) and beat out the local cacher, Jeep'n Jumpers, who has well over 200 FTFs. We thought it would be great if we could beat him. We did! We saw lights coming into the desert as we were departing and that must have been "JJ" as he said he must have arrived shortly after we did. We went back in the daylight to leave some items in the cache this morning. By then 5 other cachers had made the find. In the daylight the bushes beat the heck out of me and drew blood. Had better luck at night.

Got table, chairs, BBQ set up this afternoon. While I was working on them a truck stopped and some slick talking Chinaman walked up and tried to sell me some BEEF. He was from a wholesale food outlet in San Diego and said they had been making deliveries to local restaurants and had some steaks left over. Would I be interested in purchasing some at an amazing discount? They were Flash Frozen from an outfit in Illinois, Quantum Foods, Inc. I listened to him, tried to get a Senior Discount but he wouldn't budge. Finally I asked "B" if we had room in the freezer for the box of goodies. She said yes so I finally told him "OK". I paid $125.00 for Delmonico Ribeye, Kansas City, Center Cut Ribeye, sirloin strips, tenderloin wrapped in bacon, chopped beef steaks (these were 24 hamburgers). It figured out to be a little over $6.00 a pound. Since I had just set up the grill we tried two of them tonight. If the rest are as good as the first two then I think we escaped with a pretty good deal. At least they didn't start a fire when he set the box on the table!

Got the Rhino unloaded today, started up and then it died on me. Started again and it died again. Great! My WA and OR mechanics think it's the fuel filters. John has gone through several filters with his so looks like I'll be heading for the auto parts store tomorrow. Would like to have it running before the weekend. It's supposed to cool down Sat and Sun so that would be a good time to go exploring in the desert.

That's all folks. Collage is our geocaching in the desert last night and return today. W&B

Yeah, But It's A Dry Heat....................

........someone is trying to tell me. 91.6 is still 91.6 to me! Weather forecast for the weekend looks good though, 80 on Saturday and maybe even 79 on Sunday. I can handle that kind of weather. Sort of a non-productive day today, did a few domestic chores and then I spent most of the day getting nine geocaches ready to place. Got the easy part done....now I have go out into the desert/town/or where ever to place them. One of the local cachers in Yuma is sitting in his office with a Blackberry so he gets instant notification when a new cache is placed and then he's off to be the First To Find. I intend to place the caches in all directions, have them published at the same time and then see how many he can get to first. Should be interesting as the competition to be "First" is heating up with the arrival of more visitors. Haven't taken the Rhino out yet, as a matter of fact, it's still sitting on the trailer; but, we're only a few blocks from the desert so I gotta get it running and start exploring. We're about 1/2 mile from the entrance to the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range and we got our range permits so are ready to go.

Will post this and then got some stuff to do outside........on the shady side of the M/H! Later. W&B

Tuesday........................

We got up early today (early for us) and took a quick trip to Mexico. "B" got her teeth cleaned, some warranty work on a tooth filling, picked up some meds and back across the border. Didn't even stop for a fish taco.......will wonders ever cease. The old injuns enlarged their parking area, about double, and it's nicely paved. They also raised their parking prices from $3.00 to $5.00!! The attendant was very defensive when I mentioned the rate increase. Next time I'll tell her she should demand a wage increase. We might have to go to Mexico one more time before the hordes of "winter visitors" arrive. Right now no lines to cross the border and no crowds...........no crowds in Yuma either for that matter. Wish those damn late visitors would stay home!

After returning from Mexico we stopped at a Yuma Clinic, I'm still trying to see a doctor who might be able to help with my knee problem, gave them all insurance information and they said they would call me; however, they will be closed for the rest of the week. Business must be good for the rehumatologist.

After that we turned on the old GPSr and began hunting for a few caches. Think we found six of them today. Had lunch at the casino, lost $7.00 and Becky won $5.00 and one lunch was "free" so we didn't do to bad there. Sure does get dark quickly. So far we are the only rigs in the lot. We'll probably have company after Thanksgiving.

Here's a couple of pictures of our day's adventure. We had to hunt for information in the Yuma Prison Graveyard to get information to find a cache. The cache had a decoy, a rubber snake attached to a lid.......I should have let Becky find this one. Later. W&B

Made It To Yuma......................

this morning about 1100 and both of us have been scurrying about trying to get things organized and set up. Got my MTV going without any problems but swore at the internet dish for a loooonnng time before I realized that I had interchanged two cable hookups! Up and running shortly after that. Gotta work on the Rhino tomorrow, I bit the bullet in El Centro and purchased another new battery and this time I also bought a trickle charger so that should take care of my battery problems. The sand dunes looked very inviting at Buttercup as we passed through but that'll have to wait until later........after all, we do have 5 months to play in the sand. We're only about 4 blocks from the desert so figure we can sneak over there without putting the Rhino on the trailer..........at least that's what I thought. We are staying near where we were last year but now the main road is lined with straw bales and signs saying "Keep Out". Apparently someone has plans for building in the desert. Every year Yuma gets bigger from housing developments. Can't figure out who the heck is buying; but, apparently things are still selling down here.

Neither of us feel much like cooking so guess we take a little drive over to our Chinese joint for supper. For some reason their buffet is always about $2.00 cheaper on Sundays ??? I don't know why but will take advantage of it and the food is not too shabby.

Guess I'll post this and then get ready for dinner. Later. W&B

In El Centro At The..............

NAF, El Centro, CA. Arrived here yesterday afternoon and thought we’d spend a couple of days here before moving on to Yuma on Sunday. COSTCO here and we’ll check out the Exchange and Commissary while we have the opportunity.

When we left Bakersfield we ran into a lot of hazy smoke that was still lingering here and there, but no evidence of CA fires. Guess we were too far East. We decided to drop down to the Salton Sea area since we haven’t been there before. Found a casino near Salton City and managed to escape there without losing our shirts. Since we were “new suckers” they gave us $10.00 each to gamble with. Gave that back to them and then we left to tour Salton City. Way back when, early 90s I think, Sonny Bono was elected to Congress and revitalization of the Salton Sea area became his pet project. I guess they envisioned a high class resort area being built there. Well, Old Sonny did a head plant with a tree while skiing and with his death the Salton Sea project also died. Lottsa for sale signs scattered about and they have some real nice street signs erected; but, little else. We just drove through and didn’t even take any pictures. The Official Photographer learned that it’s a little difficult to drive the Suzuki and take pictures at the same time.

We’re headed into El Centro to do a little shopping so will update when we arrive and get settled in Yuma. W&B

Pics From Halloween..........

It's Halloween.........B O O............

Well we finally got underway today; but, we only made it 96 miles. Stopped in Woodland to visit Steve, Rhonda and the Twerps and to do some trick or treatin. Becky managed to scare a few little kids.........and she wasn't even in costume.....but we didn't get very much candy, maybe enough to last until we get to Yuma. Gonna take our time on the road and figure we should arrive about Sunday.......that is, if we don't find any casinos on the way. We're going to steer clear of Las Vegas. Found a place to stay in the Foothills but we're only good for November and December and then we'll be homeless. Maybe it's time to see how long we can last in the desert. (??) Taking the Rhino and trailer so we kinda have a problem with staying in RV parks......no place to store the extra goodies in a lot of them. No biggie as something will turn up. Will keep you updated on our journey if we can find some wifi hot spots. Later. W&B

Saturday Afternoon And..............

we're still hanging around Corning. Hopefully computer will arrive early next week and we can be on our way south. Had another sick kid in Woodland, Jace this time, so we loaded up the MH and drove down late Thursday evening. Since he had strep-throat we figured he'd be down and out for another day or so. We were prepared to sit on the baby and give Ma a break.........if going to work is a break. Anyway, we pulled in Thursday evening and the twerp was all set to go to school on Friday! Wished I could recover that quickly with a little shot of anti-biotics. Today was "go to the pumpkin patch" day........since we've been there and done that we passed on this trip and headed for Corning when everyone else went searching for the next great pumpkin. Going into withdrawals since we haven't see the inside of the casino for two whole days. Becky made grocery run while I watched football so guess we'll go out and see if my red brothers are feeling generous today. We've decided that we'll both start eating "right" on Monday so we might stop for some Mexican chow on the way home. A new restaurant opened in town and we tried it a week ago. Not too shabby.............that's saying a lot from me.......so I'm willing to give it another go. Besides, it was relatively inexpensive and we can pig out two more times before Monday. Later...........we're both more than ready to hit the road! B&W

Gas Prices Still Climbing Here......................

so it must be time to leave. Seems like gas takes a big hike when we're trying to leave the country...............or do we just notice the increases the closer it gets to departure time??

As you've probably noticed......no updates recently. That's 'cause we haven't been doing anything except our daily run to the casino to keep my red brothers from starving, grabbing an occasional geocache, keeping doctor appointments, Costco shopping and enjoying weather. Right now it's 83 deg., sun is out, no rain in sight, hardly a breeze blowing and leaves are turning their autumn colors. Time to leave. We'd be on the road except we're still hanging around waiting for Becky's new computer to arrive and I have some prescriptions that are "in the mail". Did a little shopping today in Red Bluff. Since we're taking the Rhino to AZ I'm going to be hauling more "junk" with us......make that "necessary junk", i.e. extra tools, jack, impact wrench, etc. etc. etc.......so we found a nice big, lockable, heavy duty work box that I can strap onto the trailer. Was in the process of filling it up when I was overcome by the 83 deg. heat wave so had to take a break and while I was kicking back I figured it would be a good time to post a blog note.

We hope to be gone in time to spend Halloween in Yuma.........if not, no biggy. Well, back to the old grind. Probably won't make another post until we leave....or else win the lotto.

Later, W&B

Back in Corning....................

this afternoon after speed run to WA. Got my tooth fixed, had early celebration of the Cassidy Twerp's BD, picked up Rhino after Doug and Johnny (Johnny mostly) installed a new drive belt so will be taking it to Yuma this year. One more Dr. appointment on the 19th, Becky still waiting for computer delivery and we can be ready to head south anytime after that. Still no place to stay, although we can rent a lot in the Foothills for Nov/Dec but they are full up after that.

Passed, and got passed, by a bunch of snowbirds heading south while driving down I-5 today. Everything on the road from mini-vans to those $300K rigs; different sizes and shapes but all with the some objective in mind...........get the hell away from the winter COLD.

Gotta start in earnest tomorrow to get the M/H ready to roll. A whole bunch of cubby holes need to be cleaned out, I'm sure I'll find some stuff we've been carrying around "just in case we need it" that can be eliminated.

Later sports fans! W&B

Thursday............And I Wasn't Having Too...............

fun this morning........got a root canal taken care of, actually it wasn't too bad, the old doc was pretty fast and, hopefully, thorough. I was told I'd have to return to have a permanent filling done by the doc took care of everything so I don't have to return. Becky, Louise and Tag set off to make their fortunes at the casino. I'm not sure how everyone fared but Becky won $100.00 in a slot tournament plus another $18.00 on the slots.

I'm thinking we'll be heading for Arizona about the end of October. No plans for staying anywhere; but, it should be early enough that we won't have any problems finding a place to hole up for the winter.

That' about it for now. W&B

WOW!! Time Sorta Flies...............Even......

when you're doing nothing. "B" was under the weather for a few days last week so we spent most of the week close to the old homestead. Ventured out a couple of times to do a little geocaching........quite a few sprouted up while we were gone and I think we've added 7 or 8 more to our list. Stopped and gave my red brothers some assistance.....although while we left today with some of their money they still have managed to get into our goody locker. Louise and Tag, from Hawaii, will be showing up tomorrow. Tag has been in the Redding area for awhile and Louise is the one who is actually arriving at Sacramento tomorrow evening.

Have a doctor appointment at VA in Chico on October 19 and after that we should be good to go south for the winter. Kinda hate to leave CA right now, the days have been dry and tempertures in the 70s. Just checked Yuma and they're still having low 90 temps. Got an email from a year-around resident in Yuma and he said the weather was GREAT! I guess low 90s is pretty good when you've been subjected to triple digits throughout the summer.

Well, just a note to let people know that we're still alive. Blog updates should pick up when we hit the road again. It won't be long. W&B