Yuma Here I Come!!!

 Good Morning YUMA!!  But first, a little catch up.  Here's Jonathan doing his impersonation of Yoda.  Every night he gets wrapped up in this feather comforter to help keep in the warm.  I have one of those heat readers and it seems to stay about 75 degrees.  He prefers 80, but seems to be doing okay.  

Remember I mentioned Bill put a new keypad on my door handle?  I figured it would be so much easier than carrying that wad of keys, but just because I'm the cautious sort, I took the wad with me.  It was a good thing because when I returned, the keypad wouldn't work.  Neither did the key fob.  The batteries died and didn't tell me.  Lucky I was able to get in.  That was a big WHEW!!!

Shortly after, Bill stopped by again and asked if I needed propane.  Yes please!!  So we took out my tank and headed off to RV Lifestyles who now has a sweet setup behind their building.  There's two lanes to get your tanks filled.  I think this was $20.00.  Fast ... and service with a smile!!!

Once back, I wanted to fill up my fuel tank.  The Arco station close to the RV park is my go to.  They ALWAYS have the cheapest fuel.  It started out at $4.05.  Every day we watched it go up until I decided to fill up.  NO DIESEL!  No kidding ... only big trucks could get diesel behind the building.  

No problem, Terribles has set up on the other side of town.  Diesel there was $4.59 a gallon, but I didn't quibble since it's still $5.89 in California.  It's a great station ... lots of room to get in and out, clean ... it worked for me.

Besides, right next door is Carls Junior.  Not having my favorite food in my fridge, I did a drive by for a bacon, chicken and Swiss sandwich.  YUM YUM!!

Add some onion rings and $12.00 buys me dinner for two days.  It was really good by the way.

I took my time hooking up Wednesday morning ... prepared for an electric bill of over $100 since I'd been running the electric heater to keep us warm.  $33.00 ... can you believe it?  I was shocked.  Next time I'll turn the heat up a little more!!

Patsy came down to help me, checking the lights that didn't seem to work.  I was so relaxed about it I forgot to plug in the power cord.  AND I WAS OFF!!

It was a nice leisurely drive with very little traffic.  I pulled in to the Proving Grounds (you ALL know where this is) for a quick puppy stop before continuing on.

Yup ... the green corner going into Yuma.

Once I arrived at Yuma Palms, the guards were not at the gate.  I tried to sneak through, but was afraid the gates would slam shut on me.  Bad move ... I ended up with several cars behind me and no one in the shack to open the gate.  At long last they showed up and I drove down to Ray and Cindy's house.  

It was a little hard backing in, what with the curb and all, but we made it.  Here's Cooper and I relaxing a bit ... with his ball close by of course.

Cindy prepared the most fascinating and fabulous dinner I've ever had ... but I'll tell you about it tomorrow.  It takes some describing.

At 7:00 we walked down to the clubhouse for Open Mic Night.  Who knew Ray was a stand up comedian?  They had singers, dancers, ukulele players and lots of fun.  

This morning we are off to an estate sale ... think FABRIC ... so I'll catch up with you tomorrow morning.  You are going to be very surprised at what we had for dinner.

More Stuff You Can't Live Without!

 You know you want them ... you can't live without them ... Mexican sandals!!  Here we are again at the Big Tent, cruising the aisles looking for something ... anything!!  After all, you HAVE to be able to say "I bought this at the Big Tent in Quartzsite"!!!

I never spend much money here ... it's more about checking out the crazy people and the latest and greatest inventions.  It's like the snake oil salesman ... and you are just attracted to the light!

Remember these?  The sticks you put on the top of opened potato chip bags?  I bought them once, had a terrible time remembering exactly HOW they went on the bag, before finally donating them.  I guess I didn't need them after all.  They actually did work ... I just didn't have room to store them.  

More purses and doggie strollers, but too high priced for me.  SO many doggies ... the fights had to be stopped at every turn.

Although I expected to see My Pillow, this pillow top for your mattress would have to suffice.  I'm not sure how many they sold .. it didn't look like it was thick enough for me.

And the doggies kept coming.  These two were pretty cute, but I couldn't get them to look my direction.  I can say it's a good thing they were chained in because all they wanted was OUT!

Need a new shower head?  I'm sure it's fabulous, but I don't think I have enough water pressure for this baby.  

And HERE IT IS!  The one thing I couldn't live without maybe 8 years ago.  At that time, if you bought two, you got one free ...  a GREAT deal.  I don't remember how much it was.  I DO remember that Dan Chance bought them and gave me one.  You stand it up, push up and down and it will scramble your eggs like you've never seen in your life ... and make whipped cream like a PRO!  We couldn't live without it.

Yeah, it lasted about one year before it was donated to the Thrift Store.  What a waste of money THAT was.  The really fun part of the tent is watching these guys demonstrate their product.  PLUS ... you get a free lunch along the way, sampling the results.

Yes, here are the exact same dips I purchased in Indio at our rally.  You get a bundle of pretzel sticks to taste test the dips made with mayo and sour cream.  These are GOOD!!  So good that I went through THREE bundles of pretzels and had lunch.  

I didn't buy any however, since 3 sold for $20.  I got 5 for $20 in Indio ... so there's that!  By the time I left I had gone through the line FOUR times!!

Do you have a sock fancy?  Here's every color and type of doggie and kitty sock you could ever want.  I passed on these also, though the price wasn't too bad.

Hawaiian shirts are always in style I guess.  They really did have an amazing variety if you are the type to sit on the beach and sip your margarita.

FINALLY .... I buy two things.  A very thin wallet for I.D., credit cards and cash, to stick in my pocket when coming to the Big Tent so I don't have to carry my purse.  It was on sale for half price ... a nice $20. It's probably worth $10.

Lastly, before I went outside and bought my table, I purchased this cloth to clean my glasses.  At home I have lots of cleaners, but THIS worked better than all of them.  You can even clip it on your purse so you don't lose it.  I won't tell you what I paid ... it's Norwex.  Okay, it too was $20, but now I can see so much better!!  Hey, sometimes you have to help out the entrepreneur trying to make a living.  I admit, many times I buy stuff I know I don't need, just because I want to help them succeed.  

That's it for the Big Tent!  There was lots more stuff like solar panels, mini solar generator things to recharge your phone; flags and flagpoles and many tables touting their vacation specials so you would visit them.  For those that remember the big Alaska tables at the end ... they have been replaced by big Arizona tables.

Today I'm packing up and heading out.  I need to get to Yuma to meet friends Cindy and Ray Warner and buy fabric, not to mention going to Los Algodones.  Now if I can just remember how to hook this thing back up to my truck!!!

Inside The Big Tent

 It couldn't get any colder.  Freezing 20-30 mph winds make it feel like it's 10 below.  I keep getting warnings that the air quality was bad.  No kidding Sherlock!!  I'll have to use that dusting mitt sooner than I thought!   

I took Cooper out early, then put on most of the clothes I had in my closet.  Why?  Because I left at 8:00 and expected to sit in the cold truck for an hour.  I sacrifice so you can see what's at the Big Tent.  Not really ... I was after that table.   I suppose I could have kept the truck running, but diesel has gone from $4.05 to $4.40 a gallon ... if they had some.  The station has been OUT of diesel fuel all week long.

AND WE'RE IN!!!  Not such a big crowd today, I'm sure due to the cold.  The tent would be much warmer if they would close those end flaps.  And so your tour begins .....

Inflatable boats.  I hope it comes with something to blow it up.  I'm full of hot air, but not THAT much!!

The World's Best Peeler!!  How could you possibly be without THIS?  It's amazing ... screaming fast ... it's destined to make you a famous Chef. They make it look so easy, but it's not.

The velcro bed.  Here's the deal ... the sheets velcro to the comforter so you never had to tuck them in.  However ... on MY bed, you STILL have to tuck that now really thick bunch of fabric into the 1/2 slot between the mattress and the nightstand.  For something like $350, I passed.

Need a pet brush??  Buy a dog that doesn't shed.  Thankfully Cooper does not shed, or I'm sure I would have bought one.  On the other hand, it would be good to get those spiders out of my carpet in Vail.

Here lies every possible kind of towel you could ever want.  I think they are mostly microfiber.  My problem is that they stick and snag on my rough hands.  That makes me crazy.  I know that because I've bought several in the past, before finally tossing them out.

For you partiers ... here you go.  Not one, but THREE holes to serve your favorite drink.  I did speak with the gentleman who says they have over 100 suppliers of these blocks that apparently weigh in like a real headstone.  He also mentioned that they DO make headstones.  I didn't ask the price.

I actually made a beeline for this vendor.  HEATERS!!  Half the building was lined up in front of these trying to thaw out their hands.  No kidding ... my nose was frozen with my hands not far behind.  It's way too big for my rig, but would be good for someone that spends a lot of time outside in the cold.  I prefer my warm rig.

This is for Shirley!!  The lids fit both on these cocktail table stools AND on 5 gallon buckets.  Set up your buckets, hand each friend a seat and you don't need to provide chairs.  Personally, I like Shirley's concrete seats better.

I think there were four vendors selling purses, which is what I thought I might purchase.  After checking out many of them, the $49 price kept me at bay.  The really cute ones snap to the belt loops on your jeans. I tried one once ... it made my pants fall down, so I passed on those too.

I have no words for this.  They looked like someone crocheted those scrubby things.  I didn't really take a close look since I actually have several of those stinky sponges that work just fine.  

There's more ..... oh so much more ..... but I'll save it for tomorrow.  I was done in about 30 minutes, so I went outside and found the table vendor.  YAY they still had some.  I was their first purchase of the day and left with my table over my shoulder.  By the way, I checked on Amazon, who has something similar for the same $89 price.  It had funny legs, and I like this one better.  It came home with me.

I spent the rest of the morning playing Poker Pool with the girls.  What a blast this group is to hang out with.  I even put maybe three pieces together in the puzzle.  Woohoo!!!

Dinner was that enchilada casserole I threw together.  It looks pretty good, but honestly, it turned into more of a dip than a casserole.  Wouldn't you know, I found my regular ingredients in the cupboard, which would have been much better.  Too bad.  I ended up eating it with chips.  Pretty sure I won't make it again.  

For my Chef gold star of the day, I turned the heat up on the oven (like I had to do with those casseroles) and my dish cracked across the entire bottom.  Apparently my oven decided to heat up to the correct temperature this time.  50 degrees more was too much for the pottery.  It's a good thing Tubac is on the horizon ... a craft buyers paradise where I just might find another dish.

And so ended a fabulous day!!  More tomorrow on the things you can't live without which are for sale in the Big Tent.

Gale Force Winds and Snowy Football

Woohoo!!!  There was some rocking and rolling last night.  So much so that I got up at midnight and put my satellite dish down.  20-30 mph winds with 50 mph gusts is supposed to last all day today.  This just might put a kink in my Big Tent plans.

On my early morning Cooper walk yesterday, we ran into Gibbs, Mr. Personality in his pretty blue coat.  He's just so happy to see EVERYONE.   It's a good thing there are lots of dogs in this park, so neither Cooper nor Gibbs get in trouble for being such good watch pups.  Sadly a rig pulled in right next to mine.  Cooper was not impressed and barked at the guy quite a bit.  He doesn't usually bark at people, so it makes me wonder why. 

Back at the ranch, this is why I buy cheap rugs.  Cooper wanted a snack and I said no, you've already had THREE.  That brought about a little temper tantrum until I ran off to my first appointment of the day.  

I skipped the Big Tent due to the huge crowds and said YES to a lunch invitation.  Who could resist these beauties!  Patsy can bake the best cinnamon rolls!  How could I turn down THIS treat.  

Mr. Gibbs was a sweet host (don't you just love that face?) as we chatted over lunch.  I had stopped in to make reservations for NEXT year, only to discover the price was $650 a month, or in my case, $650 for two weeks.  Yikes!!  That's a little steep.  I guess I better do all my Big Tent shopping this year.  I could boondock I suppose, which I just might do behind the park.  We shall see.

One of the things I found at the tent was RV Locks.  I purchased this lock a year ago and the little sticker with the numbers on it blew off in the first half mile.  Bill said he had changed his out to this rubber version.  He had an extra one he would be happy to install in my lock.

It would be nice not to have to haul around a slug of keys or the key fob.  I told him I didn't have the instructions any more, but of course he didn't need them.  He took the entire lock apart, installed the number pad and put it all back together.  I looked up online how to reset my code number and in ten seconds it was done and working perfectly.  I can't thank him enough.  

Now I don't have to carry that wad of keys everywhere, assuming of course the batteries are good, meaning I'll carry one spare key just in case.  It actually beeps at you when the batteries are low, so there's no excuse for getting locked out.

AND THEN IT WAS FOOTBALL!!  Good grief, it snowed the entire game.  What a mess of slipping and sliding.  Cincinnati Bengals won the game with flying colors.  

A little ice cream helped pass the time.  It's blurry because I was eating it so fast!!

Next up ... the San Francisco 49ers game.  They were both fighting tooth and nail, but interceptions got to the Cowboys and the Rookie quarterback for the 49ers won the game.  

For dinner I decided to test out this Mac N Cheese I picked up at Walmart.  I love everything Panera, so I thought this would be good.  My tip of the day:  DO NOT BUY THIS!!  It's AWFUL!  The noodles were not cooked enough, the sauce really sticky and NOT cheesy.  I'm trying not to be wasteful, but this stuff is TERRIBLE.

I really didn't sit around ALL day.  I sat in the clubhouse for a bit, working on a new puzzle with Patsy.  I find weird pieces, she puts them in where they belong.  The girl is a puzzle magician!!  Then I actually made a trip to the store for food.

Nothing is cheap.  At least the hamburger was lean, even if it did cost $11 for maybe 1-1/2 pounds.  I divided it into threes and stuck two flattened like pancake bags in the freezer.  It was the only way to get them in there.  

I cooked one up in an enchilada casserole, or at least a lookalike enchilada casserole, that's I'll have for lunch today.  There's no telling what it's going to taste like since my normal ingredients were not available.  By the way, if you see bags of salad, you better buy all you can eat because the next day, they will all be gone.

I'm up early this morning, heading for the tent to get that table.  Hopefully I get more pictures to post tomorrow.

The Big Tent

Oh yeah .... it's a balmy 35 degrees this morning in lovely WARM Quartzsite!  Anyone staying more than three days has to pay for electricity.  I'm afraid ... VERY afraid!!  There are some downsides to having a parrot that needs to be kept at 75 degrees.  Oh well, it's only money!! 

And worth ever penny to get to go to the Big Tent extravaganza.  It's just amazing how many rigs have flooded this tiny town in the last two days.  On the other hand, the RV parks surrounding the tent seem to be only half full.

The very smart Canadians Patsy and Bill go very early in order to get a parking spot.  We were there by 8:06, parked in the already half full lot.  To pass the time, we wandered through the new Grand Design Solitudes, picking our favorite model.  Not that I would EVER try towing one of those beasts.  The floor plan in one was just perfect for Patsy though, with enough basement space to carry at least TWO of Bill's flying machines.  They run about $150,000 in case you were in the market.

We waited maybe five minutes at the gate before the crush began.  As with other rallies, the goody bag didn't hold much, but I picked up a handful of newspaper ads for Jonathan.  He loves reading about all the new RV gadgets.  He loves ripping it to pieces even more.

Every so often you would hit a pocket of few people.  Mostly you couldn't get past the log jam of people and dogs.  SO many dogs that didn't look the least bit happy to be there.

You can tell it's really early in the day since the Chairs of Vibration were not full.  I was however very tempted to sit down, hoping there was some HEAT in that red color.

What all did we see?  You know the answer to that ... the same stuff you saw 8-10 years ago, except for the battery and mini solar generator stuff.  The same guy, wearing the same robe, is selling those sheets that velcro to the comforter for your bed.  I didn't see much jewelry at all, which was a surprise.

THIS is new I think.  Headstones!!  Appropriate for all us old folks, right?  I didn't check to see how heavy they are, but they all look like rocks you can place in your garden, or at the entrance to your long driveway at your ranch in Yellowstone, or maybe at your cemetery plot.

And then you could do THIS!  It says Wine A Little ... Laugh A Lot.  Yup that's a bottle of wine stuck in the stop with a spigot in the middle.  Treat your friends to a party at your grave site, serving the wine (or whiskey as the case may be) from a headstone.  But WAIT ... to make it even better, there are THREE holes so you could serve THREE different flavors.  Kinda makes you wonder .........

After tasting 25 different flavors of dip with yummy pretzels, we headed outside.  I passed on the dips because they are the exact same ones I got at the rally in Indio.  Different people selling it though because mine were 5 for $20.  These were 3 for $20.  

Sadly you don't get to take your picture with Flo from Progressive this time around, nor spin the big wheel for a grand prize.  Patsy and I hit the tables for freebies though, and picked up notepads, chapstick and 10 pens, along with 8 jelly beans that were so hard you could barely eat them even after warming them in my microwave.

The barbecue guys were here making everything smell absolutely delicious, along with a few other food trucks.  The surprising part is that no one had prices on the menu that I could find.  What's up with that?

At the far end, Bill took notice of this beauty that is being raffled off.  $20 for a ticket, only 12,000 tickets sold.

Next to it was this Harley, with only a $10 per ticket price tag.  It all goes to benefit the Quartzsite Food Bank.  I passed since my luck at winning this kind of thing is non-existent.

Our last stop was at the same booth that's been there for years.  Patsy and Bill were looking for a nice table for their patio.  This one has a unique feature.  The top comes off and rolls up.  I'm going back today because I think I need this.  It's a perfect patio barbecue table.

Okay, I admit I got hooked on one item in the big tent.  After just having left my trailer where the mirror was so dirty I could hardly see my reflection, these two ladies sprayed butter on a mirror and cleaned it in seconds. How could that be?  Of course I was instantly sucked into buying these two cloths and a dust mitt.  

I haven't tried the mitt yet, but I have to admit these cleaned my mirror like magic.  Thinking I paid WAY too much, I checked out the prices online, to find they were about the same.  Now I just need to find someone to use them on my WINDOWS!!!

Back home I hit the clubhouse for some puzzling.  Remember this one that was spread out all over my coffee table?  In less than one day, they had it about 1/3 done.  Patsy and I worked on it for a few hours and finished it up.  I never thought I would see it all together.

Then it was on to FOOTBALL.  You're not going to believe it ... they actually had a commercial about Jesus and praying.  Funny how disrespectful they were about that in the past, and now they are showing advertisements on television?  

I don't have a pony in this horse race, but I did like seeing Kansas City winning with a quarterback that is so tough he limped through the entire last quarter, STILL making most of his throws.  The next Giants Eagles game was a trouncing by Philadelphia.  

I need to check my propane tanks this morning, since I've been using the heat most of the day and night, but you can bet I'll be watching the 49'ers game this afternoon.  Oh ... and the grocery store. It appears Cooper and I are out of everything but eggs and cheese.  And maybe ... just MAYBE I'll sneak back to the big tent.