"We've settled in the Sunshine" Mike & Janet March 2021

 

  

We started March with our “Home Renovation Project”
We had to move out for over three weeks to make space for the workers.

What a mess……. Will it ever look good?

Mike led a group of Jeepers on the Arizona Peace Trail.
731 miles of off-roading.  He had a blast.

When Country Roads had a St Patricks Day Golf Cart parade, we had
a great view from our rental home.

The final Jeep run of the season was an interesting day.

This is a wide-open bathroom…… hummmm.  Not for me.

We came across an open pit gravel mine.  It was huge !!

We came across a beautiful cactus in bloom

Pat, Rollie, Mike and I drove up to Lake Havasu City
and stayed with Chuck and Eva.

Our reason for the trip to Lake Havasu was for Chuck’s installation
as the Exalted Ruler for the Lake Havasu Elks lodge # 2399

This was a huge accomplishment for Chuck…. We were so proud to be there.
What a night.

Pat, Mike and Chuck.

The next day, Eva organized a luncheon of many Elk ladies. (and family-Pat & I))
We had lunch at the Blue Chair Restaurant.
Fabulous…… and just look at that incredible view. 

 Now for a great convertible ride home.
Lake Havasu is about 2 ½ hours north of Yuma.

Can’t wait to see what’s been happening with our house!!

 

February 2021

We started the month with a celebration
For Mikes Birthday and our first Covid 19 vaccinations.

Mike, his cousin, Gloria, his sister, Pat and Pat’s husband Rollie,
friends Jerry and Jennifer Nation along with Gloria’s fella, Len.
We had a fun evening.

Mike enjoyed a “devilish drink”

I, on the other hand, was a perfect angel  😊

Who ever heard of an Ocotillo that needed a bra?

My two newest Kitchen toys… an air fryer and at long last….a Kitchen Aid Mixer
Love them both so much!

While on a Country Roads Jeep run, one of the drivers,
while out taking a picture, suddenly dropped dead.
It was very traumatic.  To commemorate Bob’s life, the group returned and planted a cross.

A neighborhood get together…
This was to celebrate Phyllis’ 87^th birthday. 

We also took a great “topless” run with Pat & Rollie.
Our latest was to Calexico, California population 40, 000
(just across the border from Mexicali, Mexico) population 1.3 million

 

January 2021

Covid continues to dominate our lives…..
Will it ever end?

Our house is taking quit a bit of time.  We are fixing things to make the house our own.
We will move out the month of March while the painter tapes the interior walls,
textures the interior walls and then paints the inside. 
He is also painting the cabinets throughout the house.
I can’t wait to see it finished.
Mike is putting in a glass shower door
and installing new wide wood blinds throughout.

Mike continues to ‘off-road”
He loves it.
The desert is beautiful.

Beautiful sunset…..
We have had a couple of days of rain.
Considering we have an average annual rainfall of 4 inches…..
we have had quite a bit of rain.
but blue skies are ahead of us now… 

The best news!
Both Mike and I have appointments for tomorrow
for our Covid vaccine !!

YAHOO….!!

We miss the motorhome but
on to a new chapter in our lives.

 

December 2020

Whew....what a busy month

This is the Park Model and Arizona Room that we purchased.
We traded in our motorhome lot as part of the payment.

 We started making it our own right away.

Our neighbors kidded us about TPing
our new house…….Sure enough, our first morning
we woke up to a 6 pack of (precious) toilet paper
on the porch.

I laughed so hard. They said they just couldn’t waste
such a precious commodity.

We have formed our own little “Topless convertible Group” with Pat and Rollie
We take rides in our mustangs either every Sunday afternoon or every other.

Our most recent trip was to Glamis (a large sand dune area for four wheelers and side by sides.)

There were so many people out on the dunes…….

Mike goes out with the “Off roading Jeep Group” 
On his most recent trip, they visited the arches out in the desert.

Beautiful area.

House looking better all the time.

(Notice our motorhome in the background on the lot next door -
it’s for sale)

Pat fixed a wonderful Lasagna dinner for her and Mike’s cousin, Gloria (and Len),
visiting Yuma.  We had a great evening visiting.

Close to Christmas, we took an evening golf cart ride
to see the Country Road Christmas lights.

This was one of my favorites.
Christmas was kind of lonely.
We usually spend it with the kids, but
Covid had different plans…
We stayed in Arizona.

After Christmas, a couple that had seen our motorhome earlier, came back
and bought it!

We are sad that it is gone……. So many great memories.
But……
We are happy that it is sold.

We close out 2020 with a beautiful sunset.
What a year…..

Let’s  pray for a better 2021.

November 2020

 

First we officially sold our motorhome lot in Indio, California. !  Whew!

Next...... I unexpectedly ended up in the hospital for 3 days.  It seems a random blood test showed that my platelets had dropped critically low.  They admitted me to watch for spontaneous bleeding and for extensive testing to find out why this had happened.   For a few days, it was looking grim......but everything came out just fine.  I'm A-1 OK. 

Once I got a clean bill of health, we have decided to give up living in the motorhome.  We have purchased a "park model with an Arizona room"  My first house attached to the ground for 16 years.   I'm excited.   We move in in a few weeks.  

Finally, we traveled (following all covid guidelines) with Marc, Maria, Camryn and Colby.  What a trip!  It was fabulous.  Every precaution was taken.  Others seem to take Covid very seriously and still continue living. I felt so safe on our vacation.   The trip was so refreshing! 

What a great Thanksgiving month ...... so much to be thankful for.

October 2020

 A busy yet relaxing month…….

Around the first of October, we arrived in Indio…..

Our lot still hasn’t sold, so we stayed at our place
for about a week. 

ORI is incredibly beautiful (even if the golf course is brown and
the flowers haven’t been planted yet)

We arrived in Yuma at Country Roads the end of the first week of October.
It was great to hook up with Mike’s sister and brother-in-law.
They are loving living at Country Roads (as are we)

We decided to take some Sunday afternoon drives……
Our first trip was up north to Martinez Lake.
What a beautiful day, we had lunch at the lake. 

The next Sunday, we drove south to San Luis, AZ which is right on the
Mexican border.
This picture is of “the wall”. 
In Gadsden (near San Luis) the wall comes right into town.
 
The next Sunday, Mike was suffering from a Urinary Tract Infection
So we moved our weekly trip to the next Wednesday.
We drove about an hour to El Centro, CA to shop at their Costco.
It was busy but a fun trip.
 
Where will we go next?????
Who knows.

Yikes…… One evening, we were out on a golf cart ride
and we heard a VERY loud “boom”
We had no idea what had happened.
Thanks to a wonderful Security Guard driving around in
his golf cart while on duty…… he pushed us home.
Come to find out, our batteries had blown up!
Right under the seat.
Never heard of such a thing.
 
Batteries are all new. Cables are new.  Everything was all checked out
and we are back on the road.  Whew….
That was a close one.
 
GREAT NEWS!
We sold our lot in Indio….
It scheduled to close next week!
We are so happy!

Life is good in Yuma!

September 2020

 As we end our summer 2020 with the kids……

We started our Labor Day weekend heading over to Sunriver with Marc, Maria, Teri,

Camryn, her friend and Colby

Beautiful weather……  What a fun day floating the river with the gang.

A couple of hitch-hikers on our float trip  😊

We went on a horseback ride…..

Loved it!!

At the end of each day, all of the horses are let out
to roam and eat in a pasture across the street for the night

They are such beautiful animals…  They seem to know that

they will be free till the morning.

 

When we drove home on Labor day, all seemed quiet.

By the next morning, the quiet had ended.

 

The forest’s in Oregon have erupted in

massive wildfires.

The next day, smoke was moving into the Willamette Valley.

By the following day, it was dark until about noon, then this

very strange orange glow for the rest of the day.

The fires are getting closer.

 

Such a tragedy….lives lost, so many homes lost.

 

A week later, it’s time to head back over to the Bend Oregon area.

Several of the highways were closed so we headed south to Eugene and then over Highway 58

To the LaPine area.    Right up between two different fires….. but the road was amazingly clearing off.

 

Mike attended a golf weekend with Brandon and his friends.

Had a great time.

 

After two weeks in LaPine, it’s time to head south.

Arizona here we come.

Heading south on Highway 395, we saw some beautiful

clear weather.

Green mountains and beautiful farmlands. 

The first day, we drove to Sparks, Nevada.

 

While in Sparks, we drove up to Truckee and met John and Sharon O’Connor

for lunch.  So much fun meeting with our dear friends and catching up.

 

Next day….back on the road heading south.

We were supposed to stay in Lone Pine, California but when we arrived,

it was so smokey we decided not to stop and just keep heading south.

 

Seven O’clock that night, we pulled into our lot in Indio, California.

The skies were clear.  Yeah!

Early morning in Indio……

We have stopped in Indio, waiting for several packages.  We should

be here for about a week.

 

Had a great dinner with Stan (Mikes mechanic) and Shelly.

Fun evening with great folks.

 

Five days here and packages are starting to arrive.

We will leave Friday AM and head to Yuma.

 

Our trip continues………