The Kids Visit

It’s always hard to get excited about writing an entry when the kids have just left as it always leaves me feeling so sad since I get to so seldom see them. Eric & Rachael are due back at work tomorrow however, so left this morning on the three-hour drive back to the San Diego airport. It’s raining right now, adding to my feeling of depression. 

All in all, the visit was fantastic and we enjoyed lots of catching up chat, evening al fresco dining and fires, and a ton of good beer and wine! Neighbors joined us for a brat dinner to welcome them to Yuma and celebrate their recent engagement.

Sunday, we planned for the day in Algodones, as Eric had never been to Mexico and Rachael had a wish list of things she wanted to shop for. The colors are so enticing--bursting forth from every vendor’s booth and I was able to find the new stained glass window I wanted for my little trailer. Wandering worked up our appetites, which we satisfied over lunch at El Paradiso, a consistent favorite of ours.

Marc has a big week coming up given his job trailer was finally delivered last week. Electric is supposed to go in today and the official groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Thursday. The project is finally underway!

It’s Wintertime and the Living is Easy

Our lives should all be as easy and effortless of those of our cats. Lay in the winter sun, have grass grown for you to nibble on, not a care in the world, huh?

Marc’s pants are on fire to start his project but still no go on that front so he still occupies my trailer as his office which leaves me out in the cold as far as trying to do any practice with it. The kids are coming to visit next Friday for a few days so it needs to be cleared out by then! 

He did do some work to get our new washer/dryer ordered and installed and that was quite a job and quite a tight fit. The dryer is gas so it won’t be hooked up until later when he runs the propane line where it needs to be but I have a clothesline here so that’s no problem in Yuma’s persistent sunshine. Personally, I feel as though this has been a very warm winter and although I know most RVers travel here by the droves to enjoy this stuff I am not so sure I do anymore. My circulation seems to have a problem venting my body in my older age and all heat does for me is make me five shades of beet red in the face and cause profuse sweating. My preferred temps now range in the sixties; Yuma has moved into the 70’s and 80’s already.

Our neighbor Ron loves them though and can often be seen whipping around in his Razor which is one sharp rig and must be fun as all get-out. Boys and their toys. Despite being a four-seater, this thing looks like it could climb just about anywhere he chooses. 

Meanwhile, the weather is conducive to having my mind turn to all the yard work that awaits me in Wisconsin when I get home. I really would like to see some major strides made in getting the outside appearance into a “finished” state and add some curb appeal since the exterior of our floorplan is so plain. Pinterest has thousands of ideas for me to try out in my mind’s eye and pictures to save and compare. The big question now becomes what does the exterior that is there already lend itself to? Something country/rustic (think split rail fence here) or something more cottagey (imagine arbor with picket fence here)?

Of course, first things first, the porch needs to be completed and a new and permanent stairway built. Instead of going with an enclosed sunroom, given Marc’s absence for so many forthcoming years, we have determined it’s best to just go with our initial plans to screen it in. That way it can be enjoyed almost immediately instead of waiting so long. Obviously, someone besides Marc will need to do the work although I am planning myself on doing a paver walkway of individual steps leading from the house to the shop. That will be back breaking I’m sure…but at least I’ve got a truck now to haul stuff in!

Has Yuma Become the ATV Capital?

It dawned on me the other day as I was doing my morning neighborhood walk just how many ATVs I was seeing. Wow. It used to be a few would be present but this year it has literally been overwhelming—nearly every lot is sporting at least one and sometimes several. Has the character of RVing changed here in the past three years? Seems so. 

More lovely homes have been built and I assume the RV crowd is now also younger and more active than ever before. There are even more squatters in the nearby desert whereas before folks were hardly ever found boondocking there. Most of them also are carrying off road vehicles.

Between the RV off roaders and the weekend crowd that comes from San Diego and Phoenix to play in the sand dunes west of Yuma it does indeed seem as though we are now the ultimate playground.

The Park Model Rides Again

It was somewhat bittersweet as we saw the park model disappear down our street on its way to its new home just across the freeway to the north. The salvation is that it went to some very nice people who are fantastically excited about owning it and it provided a good principal reduction to our mortgage in Wisconsin. Not only did they buy the park model but they also purchased our storage shed on wheels for a workshop so it cleared off the entire western side of our lot. Now hopefully, we will stand a better chance of selling the lot since it’s back to the way it looked years and years ago, as just an RV lot.

We’re left with all the stuff that came out of the shed trying to sort through it and find storage space for those items. Another trip to the dumps is in order and some will be donated to Helping Hands. 

Marc has temporarily set up his office in my small trailer so it will be awhile until I can practice towing again. He did get the air bags installed and new shocks and the hitch all set on my truck. He is still working on installing the trailer brake. He’s getting busier with his project and may be able to order the setting of his job trailer by the end of the week.

We’ve been enjoying the nice winter weather but I’m having trouble adjusting to all the crowds after living in rural Wisconsin for so long.

An Old Shoe

Arriving in Yuma was like slipping back into an old shoe: comfortable, formed to our feet, no surprises. It seems very little has changed here in my three and a half years of absence save for the derelict state of our lot after such neglect. 

Getting away from Wisconsin was uncomfortable for the first three days of travel with no water aboard due to the very low temps we were battling but it warmed considerably by the time we hit Oklahoma. About the time we started having some problems with the truck we also encountered high winds for over a day and were forced to pull over in Oklahoma City in a Sam’s Club parking lot for Christmas day and night, where we had the place all to ourselves. Marc hit a Freightliner dealer right across the freeway on our way out and laid in a supply of parts in case it got temperamental again, but it behaved after that.

Traveling with the four cats was a bit of a circus, handing them out one at a time for passing back and forth twice daily between the trailer and the truck. They did well considering and although nervous and restless, they didn’t yowl. Rocket is back to his birthplace and allowed to go out on his own so he has been very mellow; the others are still trying to adjust to such a small “house”.

The neighborhood is convivial as always; we had a lovely New Year’s dinner party with a group of twenty and friends are always dropping by for a few minutes or time for a beer. Marc has started working although it is light duty at this point since project permits have not yet been issued. 

And of course, there has been a ton of projects to get done on the lot, especially cleanup and yard pruning, requiring four trips to the dump. I was keen to get things cleaned up so we could get the place back on the market. My girlfriend Paulette drove over with my new truck and stayed for five days and suggested perhaps we ought to advertise the park model separately. I had given thought to that notion previously but since we weren’t here locally, had dismissed it. This time was different though, and after running an ad at a ridiculously low price, we had a couple come by to look at it less than 24 hours later who bought it on the spot. They have a newly purchased lot they will be moving it to and were thrilled to get such a new one with the array of windows and high ceilings. That should all happen within the next few weeks and then Marc will be without an office area unless he can put up the job shack onsite at his project by then. 

Selling the park model lifts a big burden off us however and eliminates some of the expenses of carry on this thing that refuses to sell. We’re hopeful the lot will now have more appeal to more buyers as just an improved RV lot and we’re still willing to do fifteen-year financing on it. 

We’ve been tackling projects on the new truck making sure everything on it is going to be road-worthy for me. It likely will require a set of air bags since the hitch height is so different from our other Dodge, which matches up to my trailer perfectly, plus a new set of tires. Marc got new headlights installed to replace the yellow faded originals and is now working on installing all new shocks. Next will be replacing the cruise control button which is on the blink. The motor itself appears to be very strong (gas hog that it is!) and we found out that it was replaced under warranty when the truck had 35,000 miles on it so in effect, the engine only has 51,000 miles on it. For a 1997 model, that’s a steal!

For the next two months, I’ll be learning new things; playing with the truck and trailer learning how to hitch and unhitch and practicing backing up. In addition, my computer is barely functioning so we plan to purchase me a new one with Windows 10 which will be quite a change from 7. Most striking is that I have decided it’s time to move into the 21st century and finally have upgraded to my first smart phone even though I am not yet using it. I must decide upon a carrier and want time to get very conversant with its functions before I turn it on. Traveling alone, I figure I will be able to really use the ability to get online to find campgrounds daily while traveling. 

Yuma weather appears to be as warm and beautiful as ever this winter but we are receiving horror stories from daughter in Portland and my mom in Bend, OR. Both have had abnormal amounts of snow to deal with; a real hardship for my mother since she can’t leave the house for weeks on end. Daughter has had to work from home most days this week due to the Nike campus being closed. She & her fiancé will be able to visit us here at the end of February so she’s looking forward to the Yuma sun. 

That’s about it for now; just mundane and trivial things of everyday life living back in an RV.

Switch Up

We ended up switching things up so I am still in Wisconsin. Marc got off with the little rig on Wednesday and is already approaching Amarillo with his marathon driving abilities. He’s staying in truck stops, freezing to death, and having minor mechanical problems with the old Dodge—so what else is new? At least he hasn’t suffered any blow-outs as yet! He will be flying back on the 17th and we hope to leave with the park model by the 22nd if weather permits. 

I wanted to comment that I lost my Uncle yesterday, due to lung cancer. He had been ill but undiagnosed for a long time until just the past couple weeks and at that point it was too late to effectively do anything beyond sending him home with Hospice care. I mourn the loss for myself and for his large family; he was one of the really decent ones and will be greatly missed. In addition to that, we’ve been dealing with a bad fall that my mother took about two weeks ago. Thankfully, she had no major injuries as a result but she has looked as though she went ten rounds with a champion boxer and her arm movement is quite impaired. She has had help and feels as though she is improving but it gives me added impetus to get west to be able to see her next spring. 

I’m bracing for much more snow coming up and then very jarring minus temperatures to follow so I am housebound for the time being until Marc’s return. Then hopefully, no more glitches and we can be off in a nicer weather window. Christmas will be on the road if all goes well but if the bad weather continues it will be a nightmare of trying to keep power and heat to the park model if we find no open RV parks.

Just About Ready

Plans are for us to try and leave Monday in between snow flurries since a major snow storm is being called for next week. We’d like to be into MO or OK by then since even there, it will still be cold. The park model has very little insulation and the water tank is exposed so it will be dicey if temps fall below freezing on our nightly stays.

I make one more shopping trip tomorrow to stock the fridge for travel and to turn in our cable modem which ends our internet. I already got some of the important items though: New Glarus (only sold in WI) Spotted Cow beer for my daughter and enough Wisconsin cheese to last for a little while and to share with Yuma neighbors. Gosh, we’ll sure be missing that stuff! 

Marc has had some work done on the Freightliner and built his oakie camper shell to haul his tools on his Dodge. He also bought and installed new tires for my trailer on a “burr” 23 degree wind-chill day. He used the opportunity to grease the wheel bearings which hadn’t been done in a long time. The interior is minimally stocked with everything excepting food for his trip south with it towards the end of December. He flies back here on the 17th to get his Dodge packed and things closed up so it will be a very hectic month for him.

I almost hate to go; it’s like starting a new chapter in our book of life, not knowing how it will traverse and meander.