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Our Awesome Travels

Our Awesome Travels
Taken In Quartzsite Arizona Dec 7th 2015

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Car fixed, SNOW !, computer part came in, and a fun Happy hour with friends.

Where are we today ? 
clic a pic to enlarge it
         Cool overnight but not freezing and about 7:30 this morning I headed into Benson to get the front sway bar on the car replaced at Super Lube Plus.  As I have mentioned before have been dealing with these guys since 2006. Love their great service, decent prices and friendly smiles. Got there just after 8 am and they set to work on  the car, They were all done by 9:30  and the cost we thought was very reasonable $219.00 for the sway bar and only $40.00 labor!  The old sway bar has the ends crimped inside a steel tube and was letting go, The replacement bar has the ends welded in place so should be good for another 300 miles ya think. Now to clarify the milage, the car has been driven 155,000 miles and flat towed 145,000 miles. So everything gets worn for all those 300K miles except the engine .
this be the place
old sway bar coming apart
this is the whole part
a bit of snow on Cochise stronghold east of here
         Back home shortly about 10:15 after picking up a few groceries in Benson while there. Had a nice light lunch and then at noon the skies from the west were getting real dark. 15 minutes later we had more snow not a lot but snow none the less. And it was 50F outside so was soon gone in about 1/2 and hour then the sun was shining again.
        A bit later Scott and Brownie dropped by to chat, they had fun day trip to Bisbee yesterday and he did a wonderful screen fix on his I-phone. They are heading out on Saturday all 9 of them,
our patio
just a bit of snow, no worries
lawn by the office
         Just before noon I looked and saw a Fedex truck pull into the office so checked it out right away. Suzie's package has arrived the new LED, lcd cable for her laptop monitor. Now that was excellent delivery. was ordered this past Sunday from Pennsylvania and arrived here in small town Arizona Wednesday morning. How can you beat that? Called Best Buy in Sierra Vista and will take it in tomorrow morning and should be fixed in a day.
        In the meantime I was checking our slide out switch that has been working intermittently so went around the corner to RV City to see if they had one. Checking the shelves not looking good, I need one with 6 pins they only had 5 pin switches. So he called a mechanic in to talk to me and they checked bins in the parts room. They have one with 6 pins only in Black not white. Don't care as long as it works. How much? The guy said try try it out and let me know, he does not know me from Adam.. Wow more great service have I said we love small uptown service? Nothing like small towns to get things done. Not going replace it until tomorrow. Because we are staying longer we have to move sites. This one is reserved  for the weekend, people coming in tomorrow. And we just happen to know our good friends Bill and Patsy are leaving in the morning so we can move to their site and stay until Monday if we wish, Still $12.00 a night including electricity.
        That all taken care of is now time for Happy Hour at 3 o'clock in the front clubhouse, with Bill, Patsy, Sandy and Randy, just too cold outside to enjoy. We had a fun time chatting catching up and getting to know each other more, even a few snacks, I brought some Kale chips and Sandy some roasted brussel sprouts done the same way and quite tasty and of course healthy. Just before 4:30 we dispersed and headed back to our homes.
kale and brussel sprouts for snacks
Sandy took this pic
Thanks Sandy
LR Suzie, Patsy, Bill, Randy and Sandy
          Back home a couple of hundred feet nice sunny skies but still kinda chilly. We have to move in the morning so we have stowed our Weber Q , tables and chairs , hoses etc so just unplug and move our dish, not a problem . Don;t want to deal with the hoses in the cold morning air tomorrow.
after the clouds and snow cleared up nicely 
       Supper tonight nice and easy, Suzie's choice was Fetucinni Alfredo with garlic shrimp and a salad. So toasty warm inside I threw it together. Thawed and cleaned the shrimp and then the fetuccinni cooked the way we like it. Because of the very hard water here our pasta some Canada takes at least twice as long, Instead of 10-12 minutes almost 25 minutes to be tender. We are used to that so no problem .
tasty and of course a salad hit the spot
after supper we managed another  decent sunset , the best we can do
from where we are.
       Weird weather today but we got some things done and even had some sunshine. A nice Happy hour with friends and wishing Bill and Patsy safe travels on their journey back to Ontario , I am sure we will hook up again and along the way and see Sandy and Randy again before we leave here. And of course Scott and the kids as well.
       Thanks for joining us today , we got things done and hope you had a productive, or relaxing day as well.

 Want to learn more about Membership camping at Rock Glen Family Resort ? 
click this link www.geosuzie.rockglen.com
Where have we been this winter ?

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Warn sunny day, windy, yup, car issues looked at and really enjoyed the day.

Where are we today ? 
clic a pic to enlarge it
        Was a very warm night and gonna be a nice sunny day, but windy. No problem got out for a nice walkabout as the sun was rising.
        Then at 7:30 am I headed into Benson to get an oil change on our car, at the Super Lube Express .And while there they checked out the thumping in the font end of our car. And just what I thought the sway bar needs to be replaced, kinda worn out. Considering this Saturn is 16 years old and over 500,00 kms (310,00 miles) on it not too bad. No major repairs and still runs like a charm.
heading back home  to Quail Ridge   
after the lube got a free car wash,
still in amazing shape
           Back home for a light lunch and a few walkabouts, enjoying these warm sunny days. It was windy but we can find spots to stay out of the wind. The sunshine is what we are here for. Most of the day was in the mid 60's f , ok, we may need some warmer clothes but sure beats what we could have back home.
nice walking to the back area, some nice seasonal sites here
gotta love thus Retro Trailer back here
      Below the sentry tree that was so tall and proud last fall has finally bit the dust, this was HUGE.!
        While outside enjoying the sunshine and reading a couple walked by we met the other day walking with Sandy. And  Suzie got a doggie fix. They are from the UP where Tom and Deb are from Apparently they live just down the road and think they go to the same church. They have seen their Stinger B. Now to ask me their names again? But their dog is Scoby do! Not a chance. sorry this old brain does not remember names, never has.A dog's name though.
doggie fix for Suzie
Scooby do
        Yesterday Sandy dropped off some Kale for us, that we had tried the other day at their place . These Kale Chips,we really enjoyed this so I whipped up a batch and they are amazing. Gonna do them again. For the easy recipe you can click HERE or my recipe blog top right sidebar.
crunchy. tasty healthy and addictive 
a wonderful warm sunny day
we seen most the day here outside , out of the wind
enjoying our reading between walks
        Git a phone cal from the Super Lube in Benson our part is in for the car so I will head beck in the mornings and this repair taken care of. Don;t want to loos our left from wheel on our way home we have to tow this car over 2.000 miles to get there, better safe than sorry.
         Soon time for supper, for a treat tonight gonna grill some of these smoked sausage to go with a Mexican rice  that I found in the cupboard and finish the rest of our very tasty fresh asparagus.
not long on the Q, they are smoked
this hit the spot, very tasty
 and enough leftovers
 for a light lunch
Supper done and I managed to catch a bit of a nice desert sunset
        Another wonderful desert day , sunshine, clear blue skies and no complaints here. Now tomorrow morning we may have a bit of snow not something we wanna see. But it won't stay long
Gonna hang out here till we get the part for Suzie's computer and get it fixed. Who knows how long that will be, hope fully we can get outta here early next week. We can stay here just need to move sites, no problem. Our plans are written in chalk anyway we still have over a month to get back home.
        Wannna  thank you for stopping by and hope you had a wonderful day as well.

 Want to learn more about Membership camping at Rock Glen Family Resort ?
 click this link www.geosuzie.rockglen.com
Where have we been this winter ?

Monday, February 26, 2018

Sunshine blue skies and just another wonderful day, Stuffed pork loin on our Weber for supper.

Where are we today ? 
clic a pic to enlarge it

         Cold again overnight was supposed to be only 34f but at 5 am was 27f and our water hose froze again, But like before no problem we have water in our tank.
        I got a nice walkabout around 7:30 enjoying the fresh air  then shortly  after 8am I headed into Sierra Vista for a few more items on my list and stop at a bank machine for more cash.
        By 9 am the hose was thawed out and was warming up nicely from the sun.
nice morning views of the mountain to the west of us
love the morning sun on these huge agave
       Got what I wanted in Sierra vista and headed back home before 10 am. Love the mountain views in this area.
heading north back to the camoground
     We enjoyed a nice light lunch then some walkabouts and dove into our e-readers outside in the very warm sunshine and we were able to move around and stay out of the cooler breeze that kept bugging us.
       For supper tonight I picked up a small pork loin roast on sale $1;69 a lb at Frys'. Cut in half and butterflied it and laid out flat , I made my sage dressing, rolled it back together and tied it tightly with butcher's twine to keep it all together. Wrapped it in foil with sauerkraut and in a foil pan, set on our Weber Q to roast low and slow, about 3 hours. For the recipe I used my Rolled ribs with sage stuffing you can click  HERE or my recipe blog top right side bar. You also cook these in your oven, slow cooker, pressure cooker our whatever you like. Times will vary depending on the process you use. Seeing as it is a beautiful warm sunny day we will be outside and love to read with the smell filling up our campsite.
this is 1/2 this small pork loin
nicely butterflied
sage stuffing made and in place
securely wrapped and ready for the Weber
     So now we just enjoyed these wonderful blue sunny skies and reading outside, the way we really like to spend our afternoons together. A few walkabouts here and there and enjoying the scenery.
large sentry plant 2 sites over
Sunny and warm there for a while
as we moved around
       Couple of hours later our roast was smelling awesome and then to grill some fresh asparagus we picked up today at Fry's only .77 cents a pound, gotta love the price.
looking good, let it rest a bit then slice up our portions
of course lotsa leftovers
       Added our salad, wiht sauerkraut, stuffing and asparagus we had a tasty feast.
yummy? yup
      Then right after supper about 6 pm we got to enjoy a pretty nice sunset to wind up a wonderful sunny day.
setting over the Whetstone mountains
        No complaints here as long as we have sunshine, blue skies and enjoy being outside all is good here. This is why we are here in the winter.
        Hope y'all had a great day as well wherever you may be. Thanks for stopping in for a peek.

 Want to learn more about Membership camping at Rock Glen Family Resort ?
 click this link www.geosuzie.rockglen.com
Where have we been this winter ?

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Computer checked out, frozen water hose, rv friends, and a sunny cooler day.

Where are we today ?
clic a pic to enlarge it

         Heck it was colder last night, our water hose was frozen and only 27F (-3C) at 5 am. No problem we always keep water in our tank because of issues like this or when the campground water is shut of for various reasons. Ya just never know.
         Once the sun came up and warmed out side I did get a nice short walkabout. My leg  and thumb is better but don't want to push it, just wanna get things moving again and enjoy the fresh morning air and some exercise. Lotsa people walking their dogs and spotted a few bunnies skittering around. Even a roadrunner but the picture was too blurry to post they do move fast..
     Loving the clear blue skies and of course much cooler here with the elevation about 4,500 feet did get to the mid 60's today though and with these sunny skies was wonderful.
       First on the agenda was to head into Sierra Vista to the Best Buy to have Suzie's laptop checked out. Had an appointment for 10 am with the Geek Squad. After it was checked out it was what we thought. The cable to the monitor needs to be replaced. So after the Geek did some checking he found where we could buy a cable, and take it to any Best buy to have it installed. He cannot get one in because of the age of of it but gave us a few leads. And where to order one. Nice service and no charge. We ordered the part and maybe have to stay here until it arrives, no matter no schedule and no rush, the beauty of this lifestyle.
      Next a quick stop for a few groceries and home for a light lunch. After lunch I did a short drive around the roads near here to see what there was to see. Right behind the park on a lot there has a few old vehicles and one that really brought back memories for me was this old Bus a Scenic cruiser. Back n the 1960's when I worked in the back office midnight shift in Toronto Ontario at the Gray Coach Bus Terminal we had these buses on the road. And a few times the drivers let me drive them a couple of miles to the garage, What a thrill that was. Back then they were standard transmissions  and driving through the streets of Toronto was so much fun, Mind you not much traffic at 1 am,  These would make a wonderful rv and have see a few converted ones over the years. Maybe we could convert one? Suzie says no, ok I can still dream right?
these were made between 1954 and 1956 by GMC
originally with 2-4 cylinder diesel engines
      Further  down this road is an original looking fence, really love this.
Then the Mustang Mountain Cowboy Church with a corral
and stands at the back of it for shows.
loving these clear blue sunny Arizona skies
even if it is cold.
       We were enjoying our reading outside and we had company drop by Sandy of Sandy and Randy, we met about 3 years ago in Quartzsite. A blog follower that wanted to talk to us about buying an rv  and full timing. We have run into them a few times over the years and they just happened to be in this park same time as us. Small world. They saw on RVillage that we were here and stopped by to say hi.
      So we walked over to their site to see Randy and chat for a while and do some catching up.
Suzie. Randy, Sandy
 Suzie Randy and me
      We got to see their brand new Weber Q 1000, that he was trying out for the very first time, he is going to cook up a storm to break it in.
new yes
wow ours has not looked like this for years!
Sandy brought out a snack of kale chips,
they were so tasty and healthy, may have to make some,
Randy had cooked some pork chops, now some moose burgers
 and moose sausage, he is breaking it in today 
       After a wonderful Happy hour and catch up with these guys, time for us to head on home to begin our  supper.
       Tonight a couple of salmon fillets, spaghetti squash with honey, Italian spice and parmesan cheese to go with our salad.
not long on our Weber Q and done to perfection
oh so tasty
And I did manage to catch the end of the sunset
 over the Whetstone mountains
       I borrowed (stole) this picture of us dancing last night at the clubhouse from Patsy's blog, thanks Patsy for sneakily taking this candid shot of us.
see we did get on the dance floor for a few songs
an I did not have my vest on!
          Another fun productive day with cooler weather but lots of sunshine sure  works for us. Still much nicer than back home.
          Just a quick thank you for joining us in our travels.

 Want to learn more about Membership camping at Rock Glen Family Resort ? 
click this link www.geosuzie.rockglen.com
Where have we been this winter ?