El Paso Doctors..Not! - Dream Catcher RV Park - Deming, NM - January 30, 2017

We arrived at this Escapees park on January 25th, because Donna had a doctor's appointment the next day on the 26th in El Paso. We decided to do a week here. This appointment was made in December of last year after Donna's doctor thought she was having some side effects from her medicine she was taking. This park is really just a gravel parking lot with hookups.

It gets pretty cold here at night. It got down to 21 degrees the other night. I had to break down and turn on our furnace for the night, and unhook water too. 

I made sure the doctor she was referred to was 'in network' according to her BCBS of TX insurance. On the 26th, we drove the 100 miles into El Paso and found the doctor's office. But right off the bat, while checking in and filling out all the medical forms needed, they said BCBS said we weren't covered for the month of January. They rescheduled it for the 1st of February. We headed back, the 100 miles, toward Deming while Donna waited on the phone, on hold with BCBS. After finally connecting with them, they said 'oops' their mistake. Donna told them to call the doctor's office and let them know. They did and the doctor's office called us back and said they will try and get her seen the next day. A 200 mile wasted trip.

They called the next day and said be here at 2PM. Finally! Off we went another 100 miles to El Paso. They did get her in, but the doctor asked her one question, and said she would have to see a female doctor instead of him. Getting a little hot now! He gave us a phone number and on the way back to Deming, Donna called to try and set up an appointment. Office closed, must wait till Monday. Nice!

Over the weekend, we cleaned and organized the house. Too cold and windy to do anything else. I did check and found out that the doctor's referral was not an 'in network' doctor according to her insurance.

Monday morning, Donna called the doctor and gave them a list of 'Specialist' doctors that were in El Paso and also were 'in network'. They said they will make the appointment and let us know when it is. It is Monday evening. We paid for a week here and we were scheduled to leave here Wednesday, heading back to Quartzsite. So...we are pretty much in limbo. What a wasted trip(s) and week. The good news is that it is suppose to warm up a bit around here.

This gives me time to install my new RO water filter system while we are here. Pictures coming.

I also decided to take a hiatus from Facebook for a while. There has gotten to be too much crap on there and I am tired of scrolling through 97 percent of Facebook crap/spam to see if there is anything I care about. I always have my web site (www.thefergs.com), my blog, and RVillage.

Later....

Countryside RV Resort - Apache Junction, AZ - January 24, 2017

This park is an Encore park, and it is listed as a reciprical park in our Thousand Trails membership. So we get to stay here for just $4.00 a night. Unfortunately, we can do only 2 nights here this time. But we know that we want to come back to this area again.

The first night we arrived here, we went to dinner at Organ Stop Pizza. Good pizza and brews, and we got to see and hear the giant 6000 pipe organ too. We sat in the balcony where we could see the organ, since it took up the entire wall.

Then the 'player' came up out of the floor and commenced to entertain us on the organ console.

Pretty awesome. A great evening with my darlin.

Here is a few pics of this park.

This is our spot.

Notice my tires are close to the concrete patio...

And we could barely get our living room slide out on the other side.

I can't even open the bay doors on our rig. Oh well, now that we have checked out this park... we probably won't be back to this one.

We did drive up to the Usery Rec Area and checked out their campground. Nice place. I think that will be our spot next time through here.

We also went to Costco and stocked up with a few items. And I found this RO system there.

It seemed like a good deal, $129.00. But I have to wait to install it at a later date. I can't access my tools right now. I can't get my bay doors open here.

Heading out and moving on tomorrow.

Escapees Christian Fellowship BoF Rally Recap - Quartzsite, AZ - January 21, 2017

The annual meet-up - Quartzsite Rally 2017 - fun in the desert!  

20 RVs, 46 people, Great fellowship in the desert. The rally official dates were Jan 14 - 20, but there were 5 of us that showed up early on the 11th.

Saturday, the 14th

Arrival day for many. It all started around 2 PM with hugs & hellos. Gary Atkerson brought the Word, Message, & Communion. Later we had a 'Burn your Own' potluck. Each of the evenings here, there were either a campfire, or a movie shown, or games at peoples rigs. Just great fellowship!

Sunday, the 15th

Pastor Gary led us in a church service. We then divided up into small groups and each group had dinner together. And, the scavenger hunt instructions were handed out. Let the fun begin!

Monday, the 16th

Nancy leads some of us on walk-abouts in the mornings. We had a little rain at times, and some cold days, but we all enjoyed each other everyday. God is good! Today, we all broke up into groups and had bible study. Later, Donna had some women over at her place to teach some crocheting. They are making hats for the cancer society. Then came the brown bag auction. What fun that was! We raised about &750.00 for CARE too!

Tuesday, the 17th

After our group bible study, we had a 'loaded' baked potato potluck.

Donna & I  snuck away to meet up with our old bosses from work kamping at Crescent Bar this last summer. We met Tim & Bev at the Grubsteak for dinner. And guess who forgot o take a picture...


Wednesday, the 18th

Our bible study groups broke up into a Men's & Women's groups, each small group studied together. I got to lead one of the men's group. We had 6 men in ours. Really cool! Then we all went up the road to the Escapees Happy Hour get together. That evening, we headed over to the Solo's area and they provided us a hot dog BBQ potluck.

Thursday, the 19th

The big 'Feed the Solo's breakfast' happened this morning. 'It's a tradition.' And we had a great turnout. Then we had our Men's/Women's group Bible study; and also today, the scavenger hunt winner was determined. Nancy O. was the winner. We had to break out the 'Tie Breaker' rules. Trish, from the Solo's group gave Nancy a good run. That was such fun! We finished up the day with a Spaghetti dinner put on by each of the small groups.

Friday, the 20th

Our last day. This day was inauguration day and many of us got together to watch our new President get sworn in. We were going to have group picture and our final worship, but the weather turned pretty nasty. We decided to put on a church service Sunday.

This officially ends our Q 2017 rally. Many are hanging around and continue the fellowship. Plans are being made for future meet-ups on the road.


The Future

Right after this rally, some of us are going to caravan down to Rocky Point in Mexico. Plans are being made for the Escapade in Tucson too. Fellowship on the road is soo important.This rally was a great success. Donna and I may miss next year. We plan to visit the Eastern Seaboard and winter in Florida. Of course, you know how 'solid' our future plans are...

Now we are back out at La Posa South and will stay here a few more days,

then we are off again, for a little while. We plan on being back here for Feb, and March.

Later...

Escapees Christian Fellowship BoF Rally - Quartzsite, AZ - January 16, 2017

On the 11th, we decided to go dump our tanks and fill up with fresh water. Since we were moving the rig, might as well head over to Plomosa Road a little early for our Escapees Christian Fellowship Rally.

We got to our usual rally spot, along milepost 2.3 on Plomosa Road, and got all set up.

There was one other of our members there already. Here we are, 3 days early, and by the end of the day, there would be 5 more of our group here.

Just before the rally started, we met up with Ruth & Dale, fellow RV Dreamers, and went out to dinner with them.

Had a great time. Then the next day, we happened to run into them at the Hi Jolly Cemetery here in Q.

Hi Jolly's grave

Well, looky who's here!

Welcome Autumn, the newest member of the Ferguson household.

We all like here!

We had a little rain, and some cool weather here.

But we are all set up in the desert, and our rally has just started. The next post will re-cap our rally week.

Quartzsite!! - January 8, 2017

It was a nice un-eventful drive south to Laughlin. We parked in the Avi Casino for a couple of nights.

On the 5th, our 43rd anniversary, we hit the Avi breakfast buffet to start the day. It was a 2-fer-one day. And a good start of our 'special' day.

Then we gassed up at Smiths for $2.00 a gallon and headed to Quartzsite. Of course, we changed plans again. We decided to purchace the extended stay permit. We can stay here till mid April if we want. $180.00, not too shabby.

We are here.

The entrance

Register here

Then, find your spot

Some folks stake off their area with rocks

Two dump stations

Trash dumpsters

Four fresh water stations

Here is our driveway

We are home!

We parked with our friends Nancy & Steve. We will be here till the 12th or so when we move over to Plomosa Road and our Christian Fellowship rally. They made smoked chicken dinner for our anniversary then played games that night with them.

And cake

Since there are several RV Dreamer friends here already, we had our first happy hour with the group last night. It sure is good to catch up. We love the friends we get to meet. What a lifestyle!

Present were: Steve & Dianne, Ruth & Dale, Les & Sue, Guy & Susan, Jim & Barb, Ray & Deb, us, and our friends Nancy & Steve.

Love this time in the desert!