Monster Trucks, BBQ, & Car Shows - Fort Mohave, AZ - November 3, 2014

The snowbirds are coming in everyday now. We have met some from as far as Minnesota and Canada. This is a pretty big park and it will be almost full soon.

Still a lot of time spent at Gene & Cyndi's house. No real news to report there.

I finished my installation of our new Reverse OsmOsis water system. It wasn't too bad at all. The hardest part was working in the cramped area under the sink. Then turning it up and checking for leaks. I only had to re-tightnen one connection.

Here is the new water faucet.

It is nice that it all fits under the sink.

Now the water does taste a little flat, but not bad at all. We fill our drinking bottles and even make ice cubes with it.

So Rumble Bunny has been watching the Food Network channel.

Lots of activity out back of our rig. Probably because I have a bird feeder hanging there. LOL

My sister Karen and her husband Cliff are still here parked next to us. They ended up extending their 3 day stay here to 10 days. We have done quite a few things together with them during their stay.

Here we are at the car show located at the Riverside Casino.

Nice collection.

Then we picked up Mitch (Cyndi's brother) and we all went to the 'Smoke On The Water' National BBQ Championship event at the Riverside in Laughlin.

There were teams from all over the country, vendor booths selling yummy stuff, and live bands. There were grilling demonstrations going on with free sampling. We listened to their secret cooking recipes and methods.

The samples were very good.... the free margaritas were too!

Looks like the style of aprons that Donna makes.

They gave out $110,000.00 in prize money and the winning team gets a new 2015 Camaro.

'Smoke On The Water' was a good name because it did really smell good there.

Then we all went over to the Avi Casino for a Monster Truck Extravaganza. Besides the 4 monster trucks jumping and smashing cars, there were extreme motorcycle jumps and tricks. Also a fire truck that had a jet engine in it that would melt an old clunker van behind it. Even some of the locals were there tearing up their trucks.

Then yesterday, I decided to do some serious hair trimming. Even though it is 'No Shave November', I decided to do something different this year.

Yes, It was getting a little 'hairy'.

And finally.... Ta Da!

 

 

Much better I think!

And my sister, Karen (and Cliff) just left.

 

 

 

We had a good visit, and I'm sure we'll see them down the road.

One more thing that I got accomplished, was to get our forms and paperwork together and sent off to Polk County, Texas for our vehicle registration and license plates. I filled out 3 forms for the truck, and those same 3 forms plus another one for the RV. Then copies of current registrations, proof of sales tax paid, insurance, ID, photos, weight labels, Escapees Mail address on everything.

 

It was $429 this time, but only $249 per year after that. Cheaper than the $319 we paid in South Dakota.

 

All this so we can get decent full time RVers health insurance through the ACA website.

After a quick flight to Washington to see some family, we are planning to spend Thanksgiving here in Fort Mohave, AZ. Then most of December in Southern California and January in Quartzsite.

 

Jello....


 

 



 

 



Friends, Family, & Projects - Fort Mohave, AZ - October 26, 2014

Not much change in our Sister-in-law's condition. God works in His own time. His will be done. Donna visits most everyday. Gene is doing as well as is to be expected. Her brother Mitch is still here. Her daughter Summer had to return to Washington.

Meanwhile....

I found a new addition to the valley the other day. In Bullhead City, just outside of the Chamber of Commerce, a BIG turtle had appeared. Had to shoot a couple of pictures.

Fergizmo, the gnome, had to ride the beast!

Don't look up!  :)

Is this pretty cool, or what? There was a sign that said - 'Do Not Climb On Turtle'. If that sign wasn't there... it might have gotten pretty crazy!

We did drive across the Colorado River one day and found our first geocache in Nevada.

This makes 18 states that we have found geocaches in.

We did miss a few states while we were travelling east, but we'll get them next time through.

While Donna was visiting with Gene & Cyndi, I have been working on a few projects.

A few months back, while turning out of a pretty tight parking spot, the back end of our house smashed up against a big shrub. It pushed in the rear quarter panel. And now I have time to work on it

I removed the jack controls and was able to get inside of the panel. This area in aluminum and I was able to get it all worked out, painted and caulked. Almost back to normal now.

There had been a bad 'sulpher' smell when using our hot water. I replaced the anode last week, but the smell was still there. Thanks to Google, I put together a plan.

I had to fill the hot water tank with vinegar, kind of like cleaning a coffee pot. Three feet of hose into the anode hole.

  
My handy-dandy washer gizmo.

Empty, rinse, fill, heat, rinse, repeat....

After all was done, I filled our fresh water tank plus 1 1/4 cup of bleach, and flushed everything out. All is good now. No smelly hot water!

I also made a clothes line to attach to our rear ladder. Our washer/dryer doesn't make the clothes as soft as a fresh air dry. They sure dry fast out here.

Here is another little gadget I made.

This broom is kept just inside our door.

The 4 marks on it represent the distance each of our slides stick out.

Now when we pull into a spot, I grab the broom and insure the slides won't hit anything.

Cool huh?
Now everyone knows that the water down here pretty well sucks. We refill gallon water containers from the water machines here (1 quarter per gallon). And always keep a case of bottled water on hand too.

But here is my next project......

We saw this at Walmart for $175.00 and picked it up. I will post pics and let you know how it goes.

This last weekend, we had visitors.

My sister and her husband Cliff showed up and parked right next to us.

They have a Sydney 5th wheel and Karen has just retired. They are on the road now. They left Wenatchee, WA and are heading for southern Arizona for the winter. They stopped here in Fort Mohave to visit for a week.

We all headed to Oatman to see Route 66 and the burros. A fun day.

Then the same weekend, my good friend from high school, Stan and his wife Marilyn showed up too. They live in Sun City West by Phoenix and were in Laughlin for the weekend. We went over there and caught up on old times.

Then they came to our 'house'. I had a great high school graduating class and love these type of get-togethers. There are more of my classmates here in Arizona and we plan on seeing them at some time while we are here.

And also the same weekend, our RV Dreams friends, Ruth & Dale, were passing through and stopped for a night. We all went out to the C-Belle (Colorado Bell Casino) and had diner at the Pint's Brew Pub.

Then came back to our place. We have met up with them in Oregon, Washington, South Dakota, and Arizona. This is such a small world. Especially for RVer's.

What social butterflies we are!!!

The Waiting Game - Fort Mohave, AZ - October 18, 2014

It has been almost 10 days since I have posted on our blog. Opps!  But we really aren't doing too much at the moment. We go over to Gene & Cyndi's house everyday. Cyndi is still with us, and some days she even recognizes us too. Hospice comes almost everyday. They sure do provide a great service. Cyndi is so weak. But they are keeping her as comfortable as can be. It is hard some days.....on all of us.  Gene is doing as well as can be expected. With us and Cyndi's daughter Summer, and her brother Mitch, we are making it through it all together. We are sure glad we are here for him.

While we have been here, the weather has been pretty nice. The days have been in the high 80s and low 90s. It almost rained one day. I have been doing a few maintenance items on our rigs too. I haven't changed the anode in our hot water heater for just over a year, so I went and bought one. It was a good thing I did. It really needed to be changed.

And for the last 5 days or so, I have been cleaning our Bighorn. Starting with the bugs on the front cap, then the road crap that gets kicked up under the overhang while towing. Then I worked around the rig. There is no washing of rigs here in the park, so I had to just use a bucket, sponge, and 409 spray cleaner. Up and down the ladder, rinsing out the sponge in the bucket, I finally finished. It was quite a job... but looks great!

Then I started cleaning the truck. The bugs came off a lot more easily than the road tar spots. Another big job, but they look great. I now have a California Duster to keep them looking pretty!

And then I made sure our door map of the states was up to date.  We now have traveled and spent the night in our RV in 23 states!

I have also been playing bug-catcher. While we were at Master Tech in Elkhart, IN, we picked up some hitch-hikers. They are called the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs.

And they like to hide - between window shades, heater and AC vents, beside our bed, and any nook & cranny they can find. 2000 miles and 17 days later, I still kill a couple a day. Rumble Bunny helps too. She goes nuts and  I grab the fly swatter. What a team!

Next month we are flying to Seattle to visit family for a week, then we are going to rent a car and make a quick trip to Livingston, TX and get our vehicles registered and get our drivers licenses. We are going to be Texans! South Dakota dosen't offer any health insurance options anymore to pre-medicare RVers who use the Healthcare Marketplace. Yee Haw!

That's about it.....

There is a Safeway and Smith's grocery stores right outside of our park. We go there quite a bit. And we have been to Sam's Club, Walmart, and Walgreen's. That is about all we have been doing since we have been down here. My sister Karen and her husband Cliff are taking off full time from Washington on the 21st and we are looking forward to seeing them here in Fort Mohave as they head on south. And RV Dreams friends Ruth & Dale are heading this way also and we are looking forward to our upcoming visit as well.

Meanwhile...... the sunrise and sunsets here are... WOW!