It was chilly last night, I think our temperatures were in the 40's so not much above freezing. Early in the morning the windows in the trailer sweat when its like that as they are only single pane.
I went to the breakfast this morning, much the regular menu, but the food was good. Sat with a few friends and renewed one old acquaintance. The couple who just celebrated their 50th were there as was the fellow who asked me to take their picture, so the conversation got around to posting their picture on the board out front. I had been too busy to get to it, but guess i better do it tomorrow.
We went out to the Mesa flea market where I exchanged some books. The place has quite a few empty stalls and was not terribly busy. That will change in December. I had two books the old gal didn't want, so I brought them back to the park to be put in the library here. As we were leaving the market, Marg was speculating on finding a dealership to get an oil change. As I only have 6,300 KM's on the truck I want to do it at a Chrysler dealer, to protect my warranty record. A combination of it being my first oil change and they have a common system where they record services and in minimizes problems. The dealership is the one I took the last truck to when I had a warranty problem with a headlight. It is a very large dealer and they have a great customer waiting area. It's like a lounge and restaurant with magazines and complimentary refreshments. We both had a coffee and Marg had a Mexican sweet roll, me a chocolate donut. The change took almost an hour and the attendant came to get me to settle up the account. It seems they specify semi-synthetic oil now and the change interval is 10,000 km's. He said it took a bit longer as they had trouble in the computer system entering km's instead of miles, although the number if correct, it still said miles on the sticker. They also came up with a different name on the truck VIN, something I will have to look into with the dealer in Calgary when I get home.
After that we came home where we had a lunch. After lunch Marg went to Kohl's and Ross's but didn't find anything. After she got back she said no matter what I paid for the truck, the heated seats are worth it. LOL I went to play pool for a couple of hours and played much better today, never lost a game.
We were hosts for happy hour today, so had to get back early to park the truck outside to free up the breezeway. I dug out my propane fire pit even though it was nice and warm today, knowing it would cool right down when the sun set. We had dozen people for happy and it went well. The gals all gathered the furthest in the breezeway where the fire pit was, the guys where it was a bit chilly. The propane ran out early on, so I had to change and put the bbq tank on it.
After happy we went to IHOP for supper. As I had pancakes at breakfast this morning I had French toast with bacon eggs and hash browns tonight. Marg had a spinach omelet that came with pancakes. The food is generally good and we had a very nice waitress tonight.
Saturday 30 November 2019
Friday 29 November 2019
Friday, November 29th
We had a wet day yesterday and last night with some very high winds. What is really special about those winds is they sent out one of those telephone messages warnings [of high winds, risk of a tornado, seek shelter, beware of flooding] where everyone and anyone with a cell phone gets an emergency alert. These came out at 3:00 AM. Today we learned today that there were 3 confirmed tornados in the Phoenix area and one more event being examined as a possible tornado. They must not have been big ones as most of the damages were uprooted trees and other wind damage. Fortunately none happened in our park, although we have had lots of flooding in Apache Junction. Also our location in the park is good in a flood event being at the highest point, so our risk is minimal even though the road out front was flowing. You can get a better picture by searching thru google, it was pretty bad in areas of AJ. Not knowing the intensity of the storm we had pulled the golf cart under the carport to keep the seat from getting saturated, Up in the mountains north and east of here they got lots of snow, a couple of feet up in Flagstaff for example. Our rain total is something like 3 inches from the last few days.
We stayed in for the early part of the morning as it was still raining a bit and it was chilly. At 10 Marg and two of the gamblin' gals went up to the Fort. Cindy was going to go up the bush highway, but Marg talked her out of it over concerns with the rainfall. It turns out that highway was closed due to flood waters. There were a few rescues of people stranded in flood water, but not sure where.
I stayed in as we were waiting for a new credit card from Visa for Marg. I tried using the tracking number she had but it never worked, so I called Purolator. They couldn't find it either, so transferred me to the Canadian tracking office. A lady there located it and advised me it was on the truck for delivery today, but my difficulty tracking it was because of their system. Apparently a Canadian Purolator package goes to UPS in America and they had the package. It seems odd they would be dealing with a competitor, doesn't it? I did some stuff on the computer, some maintenance stuff around here [mostly pushing water off the driveway] and the package showed up at noon.
The gals went up to the Fort to get smokes, apparently Marg gets 3 packs here for the price of one at home. They just smell funny when she uses them. They also played slots for a bit but none of them were winners.
We had a bowl of soup and then went out for some Black Friday retail therapy. I can't recall how many billions they are project Americans to spend but it's huge. There are a lot of good deals, if you can afford to spend the money. On the news they were saying something like 50 million Americans are still paying off their credit card debt from last Christmas - go figure. We stopped at Big 5 sporting goods where I got new slippers and a pair of go-fasters at very good prices. They we went to TJ Max but Marg could not find anything there. Finally on the way home we stopped at a super Walmart where we picked up a few groceries and toiletries as well as a top that Marg liked.
By the time we got home, Marg had enough so just stayed in and did some banking on line. She had a bit of problem accessing the bank service because it was her first time with it using a U.S. location. I guess the bank security system is able to determine that as well as giving warnings on foreign transactions on some of the cards that are not in U.S. dollars.
I went to happy hour and it was a small group because of the cool weather. I think it was the third time we had it at Jim & Beth's so I said well you can have it at our place anytime. The response was how about tomorrow, so it looks like we host tomorrow. Once back I went over to a neighbours and fixed her flag holder, I guess the wind played with it too much. She has not been all that well and is an older gal, so when I saw her trying to fix it, I volunteered.
Supper was a nice chicken dish with baked potatoes. There were lots of options for dessert, lucky me.
We stayed in for the early part of the morning as it was still raining a bit and it was chilly. At 10 Marg and two of the gamblin' gals went up to the Fort. Cindy was going to go up the bush highway, but Marg talked her out of it over concerns with the rainfall. It turns out that highway was closed due to flood waters. There were a few rescues of people stranded in flood water, but not sure where.
I stayed in as we were waiting for a new credit card from Visa for Marg. I tried using the tracking number she had but it never worked, so I called Purolator. They couldn't find it either, so transferred me to the Canadian tracking office. A lady there located it and advised me it was on the truck for delivery today, but my difficulty tracking it was because of their system. Apparently a Canadian Purolator package goes to UPS in America and they had the package. It seems odd they would be dealing with a competitor, doesn't it? I did some stuff on the computer, some maintenance stuff around here [mostly pushing water off the driveway] and the package showed up at noon.
The gals went up to the Fort to get smokes, apparently Marg gets 3 packs here for the price of one at home. They just smell funny when she uses them. They also played slots for a bit but none of them were winners.
We had a bowl of soup and then went out for some Black Friday retail therapy. I can't recall how many billions they are project Americans to spend but it's huge. There are a lot of good deals, if you can afford to spend the money. On the news they were saying something like 50 million Americans are still paying off their credit card debt from last Christmas - go figure. We stopped at Big 5 sporting goods where I got new slippers and a pair of go-fasters at very good prices. They we went to TJ Max but Marg could not find anything there. Finally on the way home we stopped at a super Walmart where we picked up a few groceries and toiletries as well as a top that Marg liked.
By the time we got home, Marg had enough so just stayed in and did some banking on line. She had a bit of problem accessing the bank service because it was her first time with it using a U.S. location. I guess the bank security system is able to determine that as well as giving warnings on foreign transactions on some of the cards that are not in U.S. dollars.
I went to happy hour and it was a small group because of the cool weather. I think it was the third time we had it at Jim & Beth's so I said well you can have it at our place anytime. The response was how about tomorrow, so it looks like we host tomorrow. Once back I went over to a neighbours and fixed her flag holder, I guess the wind played with it too much. She has not been all that well and is an older gal, so when I saw her trying to fix it, I volunteered.
Supper was a nice chicken dish with baked potatoes. There were lots of options for dessert, lucky me.
Thursday 28 November 2019
Thanksgiving 2019
A nice day in the Valley, didn't really require a coat today, although it was forecast to rain late in the day.
We got off to a fairly early start. Funny we usually sleep later when it is cold at night and it was pretty mild last night. Marg had baked the desserts yesterday, but still had some work to do with them for the dinner today, mainly laying them out on trays and stuff. She made> brownies, mini apple crisps and peppermint patty cupcakes. I mainly stayed out of the way this morning, oh yes I ran the garbage to the dumpster bin.
The dinner was at 1 PM, so an early one. We went down about a half hour early and the place was already pretty full. I took some pictures and Marg laid her contribution out on the dessert table. We had a good table for food contributions: mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of yams, green beans, sweet corn casserole, a grape dish, jellied salad, rolls, cranberries and the association supplied turkey, stuffing and gravy making for a great meal. The dinner was well attended, I would guess about 100 or more, so a good response. The dessert table had a lot of great stuff, I believe there were about 4 pumpkin pies, a trifle, etc. Most of Marg's cupcakes went and we only had a few for our supper left. I had one of the peppermint patty's as they were very good and light as well, so a nice touch after a big meal. Every table brings containers for gravy, stuffing and a tray for turkey. We only had a small bowl for stuffing, so I scooped one out of the kitchen that I thought was one of the associations dishes. As it turned out it was one brought by the kitchen staff, but only came to light when I took it in to wash it up after the meal. I had a bit of an embarrassing situation and had several people giving me a razz about it. Going to have to do something nice for her to make up for it.
After dinner we went back to our place to clean up the dishes and put stuff away. I had a request to take a picture of one of the couples in the park. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary and the association requested a picture to put up on the board. We have a board with pictures of all the resident couples achieving this milestone. Then we had a facetime with Paityn & Jessica set up for 3 when her nap was finished. Jess said she was quite excited to make the call when told who she was calling. It was a facetime so she insisted on holding the phone herself, pretty funny. She was very animated waving and saying hi to us. We blew some kisses and chatted to her for about 10 or 15 minutes. She was all happy and smiles, but apparently when Jess hung up the call she had a melt-down. The picture Jess sent us was of one extremely unhappy little girl. Kind of broke our hearts.
After that we went for a ride around the park and did a bit of visiting. There was a happy, but we passed on it today. I think if may be at our place tomorrow, but not certain as we were not there to promote it. Should have gone I guess.
Supper tonight was eat -in, some nice tempura shrimp and a big salad finished off with an apple crisp and some ice cream, well Marg had apple pie with ice cream.
We got off to a fairly early start. Funny we usually sleep later when it is cold at night and it was pretty mild last night. Marg had baked the desserts yesterday, but still had some work to do with them for the dinner today, mainly laying them out on trays and stuff. She made> brownies, mini apple crisps and peppermint patty cupcakes. I mainly stayed out of the way this morning, oh yes I ran the garbage to the dumpster bin.
The dinner was at 1 PM, so an early one. We went down about a half hour early and the place was already pretty full. I took some pictures and Marg laid her contribution out on the dessert table. We had a good table for food contributions: mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of yams, green beans, sweet corn casserole, a grape dish, jellied salad, rolls, cranberries and the association supplied turkey, stuffing and gravy making for a great meal. The dinner was well attended, I would guess about 100 or more, so a good response. The dessert table had a lot of great stuff, I believe there were about 4 pumpkin pies, a trifle, etc. Most of Marg's cupcakes went and we only had a few for our supper left. I had one of the peppermint patty's as they were very good and light as well, so a nice touch after a big meal. Every table brings containers for gravy, stuffing and a tray for turkey. We only had a small bowl for stuffing, so I scooped one out of the kitchen that I thought was one of the associations dishes. As it turned out it was one brought by the kitchen staff, but only came to light when I took it in to wash it up after the meal. I had a bit of an embarrassing situation and had several people giving me a razz about it. Going to have to do something nice for her to make up for it.
After dinner we went back to our place to clean up the dishes and put stuff away. I had a request to take a picture of one of the couples in the park. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary and the association requested a picture to put up on the board. We have a board with pictures of all the resident couples achieving this milestone. Then we had a facetime with Paityn & Jessica set up for 3 when her nap was finished. Jess said she was quite excited to make the call when told who she was calling. It was a facetime so she insisted on holding the phone herself, pretty funny. She was very animated waving and saying hi to us. We blew some kisses and chatted to her for about 10 or 15 minutes. She was all happy and smiles, but apparently when Jess hung up the call she had a melt-down. The picture Jess sent us was of one extremely unhappy little girl. Kind of broke our hearts.
After that we went for a ride around the park and did a bit of visiting. There was a happy, but we passed on it today. I think if may be at our place tomorrow, but not certain as we were not there to promote it. Should have gone I guess.
Supper tonight was eat -in, some nice tempura shrimp and a big salad finished off with an apple crisp and some ice cream, well Marg had apple pie with ice cream.
Wednesday 27 November 2019
Wednesday, November 27
It was a nice day, better than the forecast. The weather keeps talking about rain and it was actually sunny and warm.
In the morning we went out to the Dollar store for some baking cups and things, stopping at Safeway to get milk. When we got back Marg did some baking. We are going to the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and Marg signed up for dessert. She made some cupcakes and an apple crisp in individual cupcake holders. She tries to make it so people don't have to dig through it to get what they want. I did some maintenance work on the golf cart. I wanted to adjust the brakes and in the process decided the front end needed to be greased. I got my grease gun out of the shed, but all of the grease had melted during the summer heat. Actually it happens every year. So then I had to go to Harbor Freight and get grease cartridges. After I got that finished, I cleaned up some areas where the paint had chipped off and rust appeared. I had paint and touch-up brushes so cleaned it up a bit.
Lunch was a sandwich [for me] and Marg had a taco that was left over from yesterday. After lunch Marg made the apple crisp using individual cupcake holders. I went and played pool for a while. The gamblin' gals made their first foray in the middle of the afternoon, so I drove Marg down to the gate using the cart and waited until Cindy got there. Four of them went today and it was to Casino Arizona where they played bingo. After they left I went to the clubhouse where they were carving the turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. They had a pretty good crew [3 couples] and I was an extra just for carving, so it only took about a half hour to get them all done and ready for tomorrow. I took my electric knife from home as they only had one good one last year.
I stopped for a happy hour on the way home. The kitchen duty ate in to the allotted time for happy, so it was a short one, although there were quite a few folks there. After I went home to make myself a bite to eat for supper Life is rough. After that I went to play poker. We had 6 players tonight and I got off to a very poor start, had a lot of second-best hands and that is never good. Not sure but I came away a bit down. Good group though and we had a few laughs in the process.
Marg called when they got close to being back and I met her with the golf cart to drive home. By then it was quite late. Oh, she never won either.
In the morning we went out to the Dollar store for some baking cups and things, stopping at Safeway to get milk. When we got back Marg did some baking. We are going to the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and Marg signed up for dessert. She made some cupcakes and an apple crisp in individual cupcake holders. She tries to make it so people don't have to dig through it to get what they want. I did some maintenance work on the golf cart. I wanted to adjust the brakes and in the process decided the front end needed to be greased. I got my grease gun out of the shed, but all of the grease had melted during the summer heat. Actually it happens every year. So then I had to go to Harbor Freight and get grease cartridges. After I got that finished, I cleaned up some areas where the paint had chipped off and rust appeared. I had paint and touch-up brushes so cleaned it up a bit.
Lunch was a sandwich [for me] and Marg had a taco that was left over from yesterday. After lunch Marg made the apple crisp using individual cupcake holders. I went and played pool for a while. The gamblin' gals made their first foray in the middle of the afternoon, so I drove Marg down to the gate using the cart and waited until Cindy got there. Four of them went today and it was to Casino Arizona where they played bingo. After they left I went to the clubhouse where they were carving the turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. They had a pretty good crew [3 couples] and I was an extra just for carving, so it only took about a half hour to get them all done and ready for tomorrow. I took my electric knife from home as they only had one good one last year.
I stopped for a happy hour on the way home. The kitchen duty ate in to the allotted time for happy, so it was a short one, although there were quite a few folks there. After I went home to make myself a bite to eat for supper Life is rough. After that I went to play poker. We had 6 players tonight and I got off to a very poor start, had a lot of second-best hands and that is never good. Not sure but I came away a bit down. Good group though and we had a few laughs in the process.
Marg called when they got close to being back and I met her with the golf cart to drive home. By then it was quite late. Oh, she never won either.
Tuesday 26 November 2019
Tuesday, November 26th
We are already in the midst of a cooling period for much of North America and here in Arizona while not as severe as those up north, it is chilly here and forecast not to get better until the weekend. A little early for this stuff.
This morning Marg did some laundry in our machine and it seems to be working fine. With this stuff sitting idle through a hot summer, you can never tell until you use it. I went for a bike ride, not very far as there was a cold wind blowing off the mountains and I was riding right in to it. That and being out of shape for riding, I turned back early. I just wanted to make certain it was running as it should. At home I cleaned out he gutter on the east side as it was running over in the last rain storm because of he debris stopping it from draining properly. By then Marg had gone to her meeting of the entertainment committee. She is now the custodian of the money advanced to the committee. I thought we should use it to buy a bunch of beer and have a big party, now that would be entertainment.
Lunch was some very nice buns Marg had picked up. They are almost like sweet rolls so I am certain none will be around long enough to go stale. After lunch Marg went out to Ross' as she was looking for a few things. Apparently her credit card is still a problem and would not work. Fortunately it was not her only card. Then it was back home where she contacted our bank to report the problem. Apparently they were very helpful and a replacement Visa card is being sent by courier and should be here within 2 business days.
I went to play pool and had a few laughs in the process. It was funny today, at the start I could do no wrong, everything I shot went in and that includes some pretty remarkable shots like a bank off an end cushion into a side pocket. At the end the opposite was true, nothing i shot at went in. At one point my opponent only had 3 balls and i was yet to make one. Kind of a humbling experience any way you look at it.
Happy hour was on Donkey lane at Gary & Patti's and was very well attended, in spite of the cold. There were several Albertans there still wearing short pants, I was not one. A nice touch Patti had made hot chocolate and it was very popular.
Supper was Taco Bell tonight. They have amazing deals and the food is pretty darn good for a fast food place. On top of that they give us a seniors discount, so for $11 we had more food than we could eat with drinks included.
Back to our place as Marg had committed to help sell cards at the bingo tonight. She told me she was picking up her cards so she could mark them in case the time didn't permit when sales stopped. She said she never picked up any of the extra cards, so I picked up the early bird game and double daubs for her. When I got to the table I found she had bought early bird cards, so we had 9 sets of 3, a lot of cards for us. When the game was called, I played 4 sets, Marg played 3 and it was nose down bum up bingo. I started laughing thinking about the time we had done the same thing when we went with Mom and Linda one time. I said to Marg I wonder if the caller could speed up, I almost caught up to her with my dabbing. The really funny part was I won that game, it paid $56, so we were bucks ahead tonight and got a few laughs in the process.
This morning Marg did some laundry in our machine and it seems to be working fine. With this stuff sitting idle through a hot summer, you can never tell until you use it. I went for a bike ride, not very far as there was a cold wind blowing off the mountains and I was riding right in to it. That and being out of shape for riding, I turned back early. I just wanted to make certain it was running as it should. At home I cleaned out he gutter on the east side as it was running over in the last rain storm because of he debris stopping it from draining properly. By then Marg had gone to her meeting of the entertainment committee. She is now the custodian of the money advanced to the committee. I thought we should use it to buy a bunch of beer and have a big party, now that would be entertainment.
Lunch was some very nice buns Marg had picked up. They are almost like sweet rolls so I am certain none will be around long enough to go stale. After lunch Marg went out to Ross' as she was looking for a few things. Apparently her credit card is still a problem and would not work. Fortunately it was not her only card. Then it was back home where she contacted our bank to report the problem. Apparently they were very helpful and a replacement Visa card is being sent by courier and should be here within 2 business days.
I went to play pool and had a few laughs in the process. It was funny today, at the start I could do no wrong, everything I shot went in and that includes some pretty remarkable shots like a bank off an end cushion into a side pocket. At the end the opposite was true, nothing i shot at went in. At one point my opponent only had 3 balls and i was yet to make one. Kind of a humbling experience any way you look at it.
Happy hour was on Donkey lane at Gary & Patti's and was very well attended, in spite of the cold. There were several Albertans there still wearing short pants, I was not one. A nice touch Patti had made hot chocolate and it was very popular.
Supper was Taco Bell tonight. They have amazing deals and the food is pretty darn good for a fast food place. On top of that they give us a seniors discount, so for $11 we had more food than we could eat with drinks included.
Back to our place as Marg had committed to help sell cards at the bingo tonight. She told me she was picking up her cards so she could mark them in case the time didn't permit when sales stopped. She said she never picked up any of the extra cards, so I picked up the early bird game and double daubs for her. When I got to the table I found she had bought early bird cards, so we had 9 sets of 3, a lot of cards for us. When the game was called, I played 4 sets, Marg played 3 and it was nose down bum up bingo. I started laughing thinking about the time we had done the same thing when we went with Mom and Linda one time. I said to Marg I wonder if the caller could speed up, I almost caught up to her with my dabbing. The really funny part was I won that game, it paid $56, so we were bucks ahead tonight and got a few laughs in the process.
Monday 25 November 2019
Monday, November 25th
The weather here in AJ was a bit cooler today. It was nice enough that I wore short pants, but the forecast for the rest of the week sees it getting cooler with some rain towards the end of the week. Actually yesterday was much nicer, but I had left home in long pants, so missed a great opportunity to take in more sun.
We tidied up some and then I took garbage to the dumpster bin. We had several paint cans in the shed that had gone solid and had to be thrown out. I still kept one though, as it has the color codes for the cupboard doors and I want to repaint the lower ones. The bathroom paint was still OK, but Marg said if we ever repaint it will be a different color. After I got the velocipede out and filled the tires. They generally lose air over the summer months and sometimes the tubes fail, but I was lucky, it just needed air. After I lubed the chain and other moving parts to get road worthy. Then I rode around the park a few times to make certain it was OK, to be certain I wouldn't find a problem when I was out far from home.
After lunch I went to play pool while Marg went to take in a little retail therapy. After my second game Marg showed up at the pool room, nooo not to play, rather to get me to leave. It seems yesterday at Burlington Coat she had a problem with her credit card and it wouldn't work so she paid cash. Apparently that rattled her and she forgot to take her credit card out of the machine. She only discovered it when she went to pay today. She felt too upset to drive back to Burlington and asked it I would because she was too upset. I wasn't too worried as I thought they would discover it when they tried to make the next sale, and as it turned out they did. As soon as she asked they produced the missing Visa card and we were back on the road, Marg a lot happier than moments earlier.
Went back to the park where I played a couple games of pool and Marg went on to Fry's where she picked up some more groceries. We are really starting to get quite a bit now, makes me wonder how much company to expect. She also got me a Christmas sweater and I may be a shoe-in for the ugliest sweater competition.
Went to happy at Jim & Beth's and it was a small group. It was pretty chilly to sit out with a cold beer and I had shorts on. There were only 5 couples. Supper tonight was eat-in again. In case you are concerned, I opened one of the bottles of scotch I picked up yesterday and it was quite nice.
We tidied up some and then I took garbage to the dumpster bin. We had several paint cans in the shed that had gone solid and had to be thrown out. I still kept one though, as it has the color codes for the cupboard doors and I want to repaint the lower ones. The bathroom paint was still OK, but Marg said if we ever repaint it will be a different color. After I got the velocipede out and filled the tires. They generally lose air over the summer months and sometimes the tubes fail, but I was lucky, it just needed air. After I lubed the chain and other moving parts to get road worthy. Then I rode around the park a few times to make certain it was OK, to be certain I wouldn't find a problem when I was out far from home.
After lunch I went to play pool while Marg went to take in a little retail therapy. After my second game Marg showed up at the pool room, nooo not to play, rather to get me to leave. It seems yesterday at Burlington Coat she had a problem with her credit card and it wouldn't work so she paid cash. Apparently that rattled her and she forgot to take her credit card out of the machine. She only discovered it when she went to pay today. She felt too upset to drive back to Burlington and asked it I would because she was too upset. I wasn't too worried as I thought they would discover it when they tried to make the next sale, and as it turned out they did. As soon as she asked they produced the missing Visa card and we were back on the road, Marg a lot happier than moments earlier.
Went back to the park where I played a couple games of pool and Marg went on to Fry's where she picked up some more groceries. We are really starting to get quite a bit now, makes me wonder how much company to expect. She also got me a Christmas sweater and I may be a shoe-in for the ugliest sweater competition.
Went to happy at Jim & Beth's and it was a small group. It was pretty chilly to sit out with a cold beer and I had shorts on. There were only 5 couples. Supper tonight was eat-in again. In case you are concerned, I opened one of the bottles of scotch I picked up yesterday and it was quite nice.
Sunday 24 November 2019
Sunday, November 24th
Well a busy day yesterday and no blog post.
Saturday -
A nice warm day in the Valley. I went for the breakfast in the clubhouse, pancakes, eggs and bacon for me. The pancakes were apple flavoured, very nice and one of the group I sat with had date syrup that went well on the pancakes. As usual I passed up the biscuits and gravy as well as the sausages. Still seeing some folks for the first time, so lots of time renewing old acquaintances.
Marg went to visit one of her friends who is felling under the weather. Then we went to the laundromat as the laundry in the park is not operating due to a computer problem. We do have our own laundry, but with our travel stuff and these few days we had too much for it and wanted to use the large capacity machines. Couple of very friendly people in their offering suggestions, it must have been obviously our first time there. It is just down N. Delaware, so very close to our park. By the time it was done had lunch in at our place.
After lunch I went to play pool. Played with 3 other guys and the competition was pretty even, in fact I would say my win/loss was about even. Marg went to the hall to help decorate for the welcome back dance that night. She is apparently still on the entertainment committee, actually I think she is the committee chair. Then it was out to Safeway for a few more groceries. Apparently the deals were much better than at Basha the prior day. She came home with at least as much as we bought on the first day. The fridge and cupboards are starting to look more like home. LOL
Supper was in house as now we have a lot of groceries to eat. We finished just in time for our job at the dance. Apparently we volunteered to sell 50/50 tickets, not an overly onerous job. We did manage to have a waltz, but that was the extent of our dancing. We sat with some old friends, including the park management couple.
Got home after cleaning up the hall and taking down the decorations, then I posted all the pictures I took for the tenants association FB site. It's pretty difficult to beat all the participants who post from their cell phones, but I make up for that by volume. The site really dies over the summer, but receives lots of hits in the winter.
Sunday -
We were up early and I went to the in-park church service. Nice to see the pastor and his wife again. A bit sad to learn that he has a cancer issue, but with his faith and support, I am sure he will be OK in time.
We hung out around the park in what was left of the morning. Then after a bite of lunch we went out to Costco where we managed to find a few good deals on 12 & 14 yr Scotch and a Baileys like coffee creamer [1.75 litre]. We also picked up the things we stopped in for and then fueled up. The gasoline at Costco [2.81] was 18 cents a gallon less than any other prices I have seen since Montana.
Then it was on to Burlington Coat for some retail therapy. Well I actually sat in the truck and read my pocket book. I had to leave the windows open as by that time it was 26 C, a very nice sunny day. About good as summer gets at home. Marg came out with 2 bags, so she obviously found something that appealed. All I know is that it included a tacky Christmas sweater. There is apparently a tacky sweater event at the in-park party in December.
Supper tonight was BBQ and it was good, as always.
A couple of busy days for us.
I may need to start thinking differently about what I post on this blog. It seem the Canadian Snowbird Association where we bought our travel medical this year has picked up on our blog, probably because of our title name. Anyway there are a lot of pictures on that associations site directly from our blog, even citing us as the source.
Hope everyone has fun at the Canadian national drunk [AKA Grey Cup party] today
Saturday -
A nice warm day in the Valley. I went for the breakfast in the clubhouse, pancakes, eggs and bacon for me. The pancakes were apple flavoured, very nice and one of the group I sat with had date syrup that went well on the pancakes. As usual I passed up the biscuits and gravy as well as the sausages. Still seeing some folks for the first time, so lots of time renewing old acquaintances.
Marg went to visit one of her friends who is felling under the weather. Then we went to the laundromat as the laundry in the park is not operating due to a computer problem. We do have our own laundry, but with our travel stuff and these few days we had too much for it and wanted to use the large capacity machines. Couple of very friendly people in their offering suggestions, it must have been obviously our first time there. It is just down N. Delaware, so very close to our park. By the time it was done had lunch in at our place.
After lunch I went to play pool. Played with 3 other guys and the competition was pretty even, in fact I would say my win/loss was about even. Marg went to the hall to help decorate for the welcome back dance that night. She is apparently still on the entertainment committee, actually I think she is the committee chair. Then it was out to Safeway for a few more groceries. Apparently the deals were much better than at Basha the prior day. She came home with at least as much as we bought on the first day. The fridge and cupboards are starting to look more like home. LOL
Supper was in house as now we have a lot of groceries to eat. We finished just in time for our job at the dance. Apparently we volunteered to sell 50/50 tickets, not an overly onerous job. We did manage to have a waltz, but that was the extent of our dancing. We sat with some old friends, including the park management couple.
Sunday -
We were up early and I went to the in-park church service. Nice to see the pastor and his wife again. A bit sad to learn that he has a cancer issue, but with his faith and support, I am sure he will be OK in time.
We hung out around the park in what was left of the morning. Then after a bite of lunch we went out to Costco where we managed to find a few good deals on 12 & 14 yr Scotch and a Baileys like coffee creamer [1.75 litre]. We also picked up the things we stopped in for and then fueled up. The gasoline at Costco [2.81] was 18 cents a gallon less than any other prices I have seen since Montana.
Then it was on to Burlington Coat for some retail therapy. Well I actually sat in the truck and read my pocket book. I had to leave the windows open as by that time it was 26 C, a very nice sunny day. About good as summer gets at home. Marg came out with 2 bags, so she obviously found something that appealed. All I know is that it included a tacky Christmas sweater. There is apparently a tacky sweater event at the in-park party in December.
Supper tonight was BBQ and it was good, as always.
A couple of busy days for us.
I may need to start thinking differently about what I post on this blog. It seem the Canadian Snowbird Association where we bought our travel medical this year has picked up on our blog, probably because of our title name. Anyway there are a lot of pictures on that associations site directly from our blog, even citing us as the source.
Hope everyone has fun at the Canadian national drunk [AKA Grey Cup party] today
Friday 22 November 2019
Friday, Nov 22nd
The rains have quit and the sun was out, it was a nice day in the valley. Not hot by local standards, but to us Albertans it is pretty darn nice.
We spent some time putting things out to dry in the sun as we had carpets from the patio and such that were very wet. Most of the stuff was dry enough to put away by mid-afternoon.
By mid-morning we went out, first to the hardware store to pick up a tap knob insert. It fell out and was laying in the tub, likely the plastic just got hard over the summer. Then on to the Superstition Farmers market, where we buy most of our vegetables. They have great selection, fresh produce and good prices, although Marg said the prices were noticeably more than last winter. When it comes to selection there are many things we never see at home [in fact some I have never heard of] and stuff at home doesn't come close to being as fresh as here. It is still too early in the season for oranges, probably another few weeks or so until they start appearing. Then it was on to Basha where Marg did the rest of her shopping. Most shoppers never had close to the buggy full Marg had. In fact one older lady approached us and seeing we were in summer clothes asked where we were from and why weren't we freezing like her. Apparently she lives here and expressed her thanks for us travelling to Az for the winter and welcoming us - kind of quaint. Then back home to unload everything.and put it away. Our fridge and cupboards are not exactly full, but they look a lot better than yesterday.
Lunch was sandwiches with some nice fresh tomatoes. After lunch Marg went to check on one of her friends [one of the gamblin' gals] as she is not doing right now. Something about a change in her medications. After a busy morning, she decided to take it easy for a bit to rest up. I went and played some pool. There were a handful playing and although my game still needs work, I won all but 2 games, so I am happy. We both went to happy hour today and it was a small group, so a good experience. It was kind of funny
Supper was in tonight with all the groceries we had lots of options. It was very nice to have a home cooked meal. During supper Bill did a facetime with us and they had Paityn so it was great to see and chat with them. I'm not sure how much Paityn got out of it, but it was nice for us.
We spent some time putting things out to dry in the sun as we had carpets from the patio and such that were very wet. Most of the stuff was dry enough to put away by mid-afternoon.
By mid-morning we went out, first to the hardware store to pick up a tap knob insert. It fell out and was laying in the tub, likely the plastic just got hard over the summer. Then on to the Superstition Farmers market, where we buy most of our vegetables. They have great selection, fresh produce and good prices, although Marg said the prices were noticeably more than last winter. When it comes to selection there are many things we never see at home [in fact some I have never heard of] and stuff at home doesn't come close to being as fresh as here. It is still too early in the season for oranges, probably another few weeks or so until they start appearing. Then it was on to Basha where Marg did the rest of her shopping. Most shoppers never had close to the buggy full Marg had. In fact one older lady approached us and seeing we were in summer clothes asked where we were from and why weren't we freezing like her. Apparently she lives here and expressed her thanks for us travelling to Az for the winter and welcoming us - kind of quaint. Then back home to unload everything.and put it away. Our fridge and cupboards are not exactly full, but they look a lot better than yesterday.
Lunch was sandwiches with some nice fresh tomatoes. After lunch Marg went to check on one of her friends [one of the gamblin' gals] as she is not doing right now. Something about a change in her medications. After a busy morning, she decided to take it easy for a bit to rest up. I went and played some pool. There were a handful playing and although my game still needs work, I won all but 2 games, so I am happy. We both went to happy hour today and it was a small group, so a good experience. It was kind of funny
Supper was in tonight with all the groceries we had lots of options. It was very nice to have a home cooked meal. During supper Bill did a facetime with us and they had Paityn so it was great to see and chat with them. I'm not sure how much Paityn got out of it, but it was nice for us.
Thursday 21 November 2019
Thursday, November 21st
Another damp day in the Valley of the Sun. It rained hard most of the night with lots of thunder and lightning, although we missed the hail they had in some parts of Phoenix. This large storm we encountered yesterday is forecast to lose some of its fury but will not end until Friday afternoon. It rained off and on today with some nice warm sunny breaks every so often. Just around supper time it was a downpour with the lightning and thunder for about a half hour, the rest was just showers.
It was another busy day as Marg cleaned inside the trailer while I washed the patio/driveway and used the squeegy to push the water out. We dug out our ornaments for the front of the place. I took the excess water out of the golf cart batteries, took it off the jack stands and got it out of the patio area. I use a turkey baster to take water out of the 6 batteries. Last spring I put a whole 4 quart bottle of distilled water in the batteries, today I siphoned off about a third of that, the rest lost to evaporation. Amazingly the batteries showed it fully charged, I guess I disconnected the right cables last spring.
We had lots of visitors stopping to say hello and renewed old acquaintances. The park is full and has been for a while now, we were definitely not early to arrive here. The other couple from Grande Prairie that have a lot here arrived about 4 weeks ago as have many others. There are only a few people not here yet.
Lunch was a sandwich and the pecan pie. Last night we each had a piece of pie and Marg not wanting hers, ordered a take-away pie that she still did not want at lunch today. Very fortunate for yours truly.
After lunch I went to buy water for the cooler and then we emptied the Arizona room. It was pretty much full of the patio stuff, so took a large part of the afternoon. On a negative note the bike has a flat front tire, so will not be riding for a few days yet. A common problem and usually a failure of the tube requiring replacement. Sometimes the summer heat causes other problems, like I had a bottle of degreaser that sprung a leak and drained out in the shed. The glue traps in the shed were full of crickets.
The place was looking just like it did when we left, so just about done. When we finished for the day I went to shoot some stick to see if I can get my mojo back. With the pool players around here I wanted to practice on my own first. Marg stayed in as Mediacom came to install our TV, internet & land line. It went pretty well as we had the identity and password from last year. When the installer saw that it went smooth as silk. If you want to call, our land line in the park model changes every year and now it is 480-845-1159.
After all the work today, Marg wanted to rest up a bit before supper, so stayed in, but I went to happy hour. It was cut short as the storm clouds were moving in again. We went out to Denny's for supper and both of us were happy with our choice. Our waiter was new on the job and it was his 20th birthday today, so we left him a little extra in cash for the tip. Rather than leave the it on the table Marg to care to hand it to him personally, just to be sure.
Oh yesterday I was a bit rushed doing the blog in the Village Inn, so never reported the kilometers from Mesquite to here. It was 680 kms, an easy distance when the weather is nice.
It was another busy day as Marg cleaned inside the trailer while I washed the patio/driveway and used the squeegy to push the water out. We dug out our ornaments for the front of the place. I took the excess water out of the golf cart batteries, took it off the jack stands and got it out of the patio area. I use a turkey baster to take water out of the 6 batteries. Last spring I put a whole 4 quart bottle of distilled water in the batteries, today I siphoned off about a third of that, the rest lost to evaporation. Amazingly the batteries showed it fully charged, I guess I disconnected the right cables last spring.
We had lots of visitors stopping to say hello and renewed old acquaintances. The park is full and has been for a while now, we were definitely not early to arrive here. The other couple from Grande Prairie that have a lot here arrived about 4 weeks ago as have many others. There are only a few people not here yet.
Lunch was a sandwich and the pecan pie. Last night we each had a piece of pie and Marg not wanting hers, ordered a take-away pie that she still did not want at lunch today. Very fortunate for yours truly.
After lunch I went to buy water for the cooler and then we emptied the Arizona room. It was pretty much full of the patio stuff, so took a large part of the afternoon. On a negative note the bike has a flat front tire, so will not be riding for a few days yet. A common problem and usually a failure of the tube requiring replacement. Sometimes the summer heat causes other problems, like I had a bottle of degreaser that sprung a leak and drained out in the shed. The glue traps in the shed were full of crickets.
The place was looking just like it did when we left, so just about done. When we finished for the day I went to shoot some stick to see if I can get my mojo back. With the pool players around here I wanted to practice on my own first. Marg stayed in as Mediacom came to install our TV, internet & land line. It went pretty well as we had the identity and password from last year. When the installer saw that it went smooth as silk. If you want to call, our land line in the park model changes every year and now it is 480-845-1159.
After all the work today, Marg wanted to rest up a bit before supper, so stayed in, but I went to happy hour. It was cut short as the storm clouds were moving in again. We went out to Denny's for supper and both of us were happy with our choice. Our waiter was new on the job and it was his 20th birthday today, so we left him a little extra in cash for the tip. Rather than leave the it on the table Marg to care to hand it to him personally, just to be sure.
Oh yesterday I was a bit rushed doing the blog in the Village Inn, so never reported the kilometers from Mesquite to here. It was 680 kms, an easy distance when the weather is nice.
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Wednesday, Nov 20th
This comes to you from the Village Inn, where Wednesday is FREE pie night.
We got away from Mesquite early, on the road 7AM and it was raining. Rained all night and we encountered some of the heaviest rain I have ever driven in. By the time we got to Las Vegas it was 8, so rush hour in the rain. Not just regular rain, at times it was like someone threw a bucket of water on the windshield. Traffic was crawling, a good thing as it reduced the chance of an accident. The windshield wipers were on high whenever the speed got up, which was not often. It took about a half or 3/4 of an hour to get through Vegas with the stop and go on the freeway.
We took the right road after Vegas this time and it was easy travelling. In fact traffic was pretty light most of the way. We stopped in Kingman for fuel, a rest stop and a coffee. The weather was much better in this leg, it was only raining, not a downpour.
The highway from there through Wickenburg was busy and at times the rain was the torrential downpour again. They are starting for 4 lane some of the 2 lane that is left, so in the future it will be much better. Stopped at Wickenburg for a fish sandwich and then on to the Carefree highway [like in the song] where traffic was very light and mostly regular rain.
Turning off the Carefree highway onto #17 traffic was bumper to bumper, rain very heavy, not a happy moment. Wait it got worse on the #101 where the traffic was the same but for a few more lanes and road construction. We hit one underpass where the water was pretty deep as we were making a spray as high as the truck. We still made pretty fair time and arrived at our park at 2. Marg commented that it was an hour earlier than the 3 I had guessed at when we were at home.
The place was the usual mess, so we cleaned inside and out. I found 2 cockroaches in the place, one trapped on a glue trap, the other perished in the toilet under the zip lock bags I put in the bottom. They come through the sewer, so I guess our preventative measures worked.
Marg got most of the clothes put away and we went out for dinner. When we finish we'll stop for some groceries and call it a night. Got to go, my pie is here.
We got away from Mesquite early, on the road 7AM and it was raining. Rained all night and we encountered some of the heaviest rain I have ever driven in. By the time we got to Las Vegas it was 8, so rush hour in the rain. Not just regular rain, at times it was like someone threw a bucket of water on the windshield. Traffic was crawling, a good thing as it reduced the chance of an accident. The windshield wipers were on high whenever the speed got up, which was not often. It took about a half or 3/4 of an hour to get through Vegas with the stop and go on the freeway.
The highway from there through Wickenburg was busy and at times the rain was the torrential downpour again. They are starting for 4 lane some of the 2 lane that is left, so in the future it will be much better. Stopped at Wickenburg for a fish sandwich and then on to the Carefree highway [like in the song] where traffic was very light and mostly regular rain.
Turning off the Carefree highway onto #17 traffic was bumper to bumper, rain very heavy, not a happy moment. Wait it got worse on the #101 where the traffic was the same but for a few more lanes and road construction. We hit one underpass where the water was pretty deep as we were making a spray as high as the truck. We still made pretty fair time and arrived at our park at 2. Marg commented that it was an hour earlier than the 3 I had guessed at when we were at home.
Marg got most of the clothes put away and we went out for dinner. When we finish we'll stop for some groceries and call it a night. Got to go, my pie is here.
Tuesday 19 November 2019
Tuesday, Nov 19th
We had a nice room at the Best Western, good beds so we slept well. But apparently not late into the morning. Our only complaint was the water, but the hotel had no control over that. It was very soft water, so good luck if you put too much shampoo in your hair, but the real problem was the taste. A problem that is not uncommon when on the road.
We were up early so loaded the luggage and went for the complimentary hotel breakfast, although we had not worked up much of an appetite. The weather was nice, but just above the freezing point. We were on the highway at 7:09 according to Marg. Neither of us are exactly a morning person, but it was early & I would certainly not dispute that time.
The traffic was light and roads great, so we set the cruise and let 'er roll. We had not seen snow on the road sides since north of Red Deer and down south of the border, just in the high country. When we got to the urban sprawl north of Salt Lake City it was only 9:15 and traffic was pretty good for there. Oops wait a minute they had about 20 miles of road construction, lane reductions, lane width reductions, HOV lane closure and the traffic was typical SLC heavy in the construction areas. You would think they would at least draw straight lane lines, but some drunk drew these ones in the middle of the night. Now I know what it's like to drive in an off road obstacle course. Most of the way we were 65 mph [approx 100 kmph] or better, so we were through the entire urban area in about 45 minutes.
The traffic after Spanish Forks was light, so we made good time going south through Utah. Our lunch stop was in Beaver, where we picked the golden arches. This was a new experience for us as we had to use the self order kiosk, a task usually handled by one of the grandchildren. With the help of a nice Mexican guy we managed to get fed. The food was a little different and Marg reported the chicken nuggets as the best she has ever eaten. Might have had something to do with the timing, LOL.
There has been a lot of construction in SLC and St George when we got there, where we again encountered major highway rebuilding. We used to leave the motorhome there for the late fall, so have quite a lot of experience with the city and were blown away with the amount of change. A stop for fuel and it is increasing in price as we head south, nothing new about that. We paid $3.05 per gallon [about 80 cents a litre] in St George, but in fairness it was a Chevron station and they are always the most expensive.
Onward to the south and wouldn't you know it about half of the Virgin River Gorge was down to single lane each way for road construction. This section of the I-15 is actually in Arizona. It is a small section between Utah & Nevada. When we got to Mesquite, Nevada it was about 2:30 and being a different time zone it was only 1:30 so we had to wait a couple of hours for our room. We took a driving tour of Mesquite and were again amazed at the amount of housing and commercial construction from when we used to stay here in the motorhome.
After we spent a bit of time in the Virgin River Casino, which is where we had a room. I had booked the room from home and the rate I was given was $27. When we were checking in I was a bit apprehensive as no one before us got a room for less than $65. We were pleased when the rate turned out to be exactly as quoted with a bit of tax added on. At the casino we did our best to give some of that good deal back and for my part I was successful. Marg on the other hand made enough to pay for the room, our supper and still had about $50 to the good. I's funny but this casino favours her, so it was not the first time for her doing this. The temperature just kept getting warmer all day and by the time we reached Mesquite it was 26 C in the sun, so a very pleasant day.
For the statistician in you our total mileage is now 2,720 km's, 830 of which were today's leg of the journey. We won't be buying any fuel in Nevada, so I expect our next purchase in Arizona to be much better.
Now if we can keep this one hour sorted out, we will be on the road at a decent hour tomorrow. To help us in that regard we are not changing our watches, so anything could happen
.
We were up early so loaded the luggage and went for the complimentary hotel breakfast, although we had not worked up much of an appetite. The weather was nice, but just above the freezing point. We were on the highway at 7:09 according to Marg. Neither of us are exactly a morning person, but it was early & I would certainly not dispute that time.
The traffic was light and roads great, so we set the cruise and let 'er roll. We had not seen snow on the road sides since north of Red Deer and down south of the border, just in the high country. When we got to the urban sprawl north of Salt Lake City it was only 9:15 and traffic was pretty good for there. Oops wait a minute they had about 20 miles of road construction, lane reductions, lane width reductions, HOV lane closure and the traffic was typical SLC heavy in the construction areas. You would think they would at least draw straight lane lines, but some drunk drew these ones in the middle of the night. Now I know what it's like to drive in an off road obstacle course. Most of the way we were 65 mph [approx 100 kmph] or better, so we were through the entire urban area in about 45 minutes.
The traffic after Spanish Forks was light, so we made good time going south through Utah. Our lunch stop was in Beaver, where we picked the golden arches. This was a new experience for us as we had to use the self order kiosk, a task usually handled by one of the grandchildren. With the help of a nice Mexican guy we managed to get fed. The food was a little different and Marg reported the chicken nuggets as the best she has ever eaten. Might have had something to do with the timing, LOL.
There has been a lot of construction in SLC and St George when we got there, where we again encountered major highway rebuilding. We used to leave the motorhome there for the late fall, so have quite a lot of experience with the city and were blown away with the amount of change. A stop for fuel and it is increasing in price as we head south, nothing new about that. We paid $3.05 per gallon [about 80 cents a litre] in St George, but in fairness it was a Chevron station and they are always the most expensive.
Onward to the south and wouldn't you know it about half of the Virgin River Gorge was down to single lane each way for road construction. This section of the I-15 is actually in Arizona. It is a small section between Utah & Nevada. When we got to Mesquite, Nevada it was about 2:30 and being a different time zone it was only 1:30 so we had to wait a couple of hours for our room. We took a driving tour of Mesquite and were again amazed at the amount of housing and commercial construction from when we used to stay here in the motorhome.
After we spent a bit of time in the Virgin River Casino, which is where we had a room. I had booked the room from home and the rate I was given was $27. When we were checking in I was a bit apprehensive as no one before us got a room for less than $65. We were pleased when the rate turned out to be exactly as quoted with a bit of tax added on. At the casino we did our best to give some of that good deal back and for my part I was successful. Marg on the other hand made enough to pay for the room, our supper and still had about $50 to the good. I's funny but this casino favours her, so it was not the first time for her doing this. The temperature just kept getting warmer all day and by the time we reached Mesquite it was 26 C in the sun, so a very pleasant day.
For the statistician in you our total mileage is now 2,720 km's, 830 of which were today's leg of the journey. We won't be buying any fuel in Nevada, so I expect our next purchase in Arizona to be much better.
Now if we can keep this one hour sorted out, we will be on the road at a decent hour tomorrow. To help us in that regard we are not changing our watches, so anything could happen
.
Monday 18 November 2019
Monday, Nov 18, 2019
Another travel day on our journey to the sunny south.
We had an early quit yesterday, so it made the day a bit longer. We got off to a good start with a nice [full] breakfast at the Ramada. Even the sausages were good, however the oatmeal would do well in tarmac repairs, so I passed on it, not needing any this morning. We were on the road by 8 AM, so a good start. The weather was actually very pleasant, right around the freezing point and the traffic light. One of the disadvantages of our travel direction is driving into the rising sun, but we suffer it for the cause.
The trip to the border was uneventful, with dry roads and the cruise set on 123 km's. Traffic was light, so thinking we would be driving right up to the border agent, we stopped at Duty Free in Coutts. It's a good last chance for a Canadian flush and we managed to convince a nice bottle of Tullamore Dew and one of Glenlivet to continue on the journey with us. You can imagine our disappointment to find a very slow moving line with about 18 cars ahead of us. At some point a border agent took pity on us and opened a second lane, which we fortunately selected. About a half hour later plus 15 min in Duty free and we were out on the open highways in Montana with the cruise set on Mach Chicken or 83 MPH [somewhere around 135 KMPH]. The speed limit is 80 mph, so the miles roll by quickly at a cost of some extra fuel.
We got to Great Falls in good time and filled up at $2.63 per U.S. gallon, so about 69 cents per litre. The food selection was limited to the convenience store, but it wasn't too bad. OK it was less than stellar, so I promised to make it up for supper by not going any place that has a drive thru window.
We had lots of wind today, especially in northern Montana, but the roads were dry and bare, so again were able to use the cruise all day. The drive through the big Belt mountains is always scenic along the Missouri river. The drive through Butte was a bit slow this year with construction still in place from the same work they were doing last year, a pretty major change to the interstate. Down through the valley where there was not sign of snow, except at the mountain tops. Traffic was light pretty much the entire route except through the cities.
By the time we reached Idaho Falls it was getting on toward evening and full dark by Pocatello. We stopped in to fuel up at $2.87 per gallon [about 76 cents per litre]. I also got a deluxe car wash at a brush less drive thru for $6. It was very badly needed and having used this wash in prior years, I knew it would be good. It was only a few blocks to the Best Western where we had booked and paid for a room and we were not disappointed, a very nice room, at about half what we paid in High River for half the room.
It was then time to make good on my commitment for a decent meal, so we went to Appleby's. This has been something we have done in numerous previous trips and we were not disappointed. Marg had a nice shrimp and dinner plate while I had a shrimp dish and then we share a decadent dessert.
Oh yes for those of you keeping statistical track of us, that makes 1,890 km's since leaving home so 1,075 km's for today's effort. I think we we pulled in about 6:15 PM, so a little over 10 hours on the travel day.
We had an early quit yesterday, so it made the day a bit longer. We got off to a good start with a nice [full] breakfast at the Ramada. Even the sausages were good, however the oatmeal would do well in tarmac repairs, so I passed on it, not needing any this morning. We were on the road by 8 AM, so a good start. The weather was actually very pleasant, right around the freezing point and the traffic light. One of the disadvantages of our travel direction is driving into the rising sun, but we suffer it for the cause.
The trip to the border was uneventful, with dry roads and the cruise set on 123 km's. Traffic was light, so thinking we would be driving right up to the border agent, we stopped at Duty Free in Coutts. It's a good last chance for a Canadian flush and we managed to convince a nice bottle of Tullamore Dew and one of Glenlivet to continue on the journey with us. You can imagine our disappointment to find a very slow moving line with about 18 cars ahead of us. At some point a border agent took pity on us and opened a second lane, which we fortunately selected. About a half hour later plus 15 min in Duty free and we were out on the open highways in Montana with the cruise set on Mach Chicken or 83 MPH [somewhere around 135 KMPH]. The speed limit is 80 mph, so the miles roll by quickly at a cost of some extra fuel.
We got to Great Falls in good time and filled up at $2.63 per U.S. gallon, so about 69 cents per litre. The food selection was limited to the convenience store, but it wasn't too bad. OK it was less than stellar, so I promised to make it up for supper by not going any place that has a drive thru window.
We had lots of wind today, especially in northern Montana, but the roads were dry and bare, so again were able to use the cruise all day. The drive through the big Belt mountains is always scenic along the Missouri river. The drive through Butte was a bit slow this year with construction still in place from the same work they were doing last year, a pretty major change to the interstate. Down through the valley where there was not sign of snow, except at the mountain tops. Traffic was light pretty much the entire route except through the cities.
By the time we reached Idaho Falls it was getting on toward evening and full dark by Pocatello. We stopped in to fuel up at $2.87 per gallon [about 76 cents per litre]. I also got a deluxe car wash at a brush less drive thru for $6. It was very badly needed and having used this wash in prior years, I knew it would be good. It was only a few blocks to the Best Western where we had booked and paid for a room and we were not disappointed, a very nice room, at about half what we paid in High River for half the room.
It was then time to make good on my commitment for a decent meal, so we went to Appleby's. This has been something we have done in numerous previous trips and we were not disappointed. Marg had a nice shrimp and dinner plate while I had a shrimp dish and then we share a decadent dessert.
Oh yes for those of you keeping statistical track of us, that makes 1,890 km's since leaving home so 1,075 km's for today's effort. I think we we pulled in about 6:15 PM, so a little over 10 hours on the travel day.
Sunday 17 November 2019
November 17, 2019
It was a different travel day. The rain last night seemed harmless enough as it never froze overnight. That was a bit of a surprise this AM when we went out as the roads were like a skating rink, it did freeze once on the ground I guess. We had quite a bit of last minute stuff to do, so it was about 9:30 when we went out the door. When we got on the city streets it was mainly good where they had sanded and salted, but other places were 4x4 territory. Our first stop was over to our grandsons to say goodbye, I thought we had last night, LOL. It was a great opportunity to see Paityn and she was all smiles and happy to see us. We sure will miss her for the next 5 months. Then it was up to the P2K yard where they were loading equipment on semi's. The yard would have been a good place for a hockey game. A final farewell to Bill & Patti and we headed out at 10:20 this morning.
Fortunately the highways were well salted and sanded, so just wet and traffic was light. We were even able to use the cruise for most of the way, although we encountered some ice on bridge decks and in the shady areas. We stopped in Whitecourt for a bite of lunch where we met Morris & Michelle Greschner on their way home. Back on the road and by the time we got to the Sangudo area they were dry and bare. Traffic was heavier on the Yellowhead highway and we took the bypass going thru Devon to Highway #2.
Stopped at Red Deer for fuel and a chance to wash the windows. The road spray from the first part of the journey was creating problems on the side windows, rear camera, lights and we knew it would be dark before stopping and didn't need that complication. It was a pretty good cross wind all the way from Red Deer. Traffic on the QEW or #2 was heavy all the way to Calgary.
We took the Stoney Trail bypass in Calgary where the traffic was much lighter. By then the sun had set, we are heading up to the shortest day of the year. We made it as far as High River, just south of Calgary, so 815 km's today, where we checked in to a Ramada hotel. The room is fine, but nothing great. For supper tonight we went to Boston Pizza and it was good as well.
We are well positioned to cross the border tomorrow and make it through the area where we encounter the most challenging weather.
Fortunately the highways were well salted and sanded, so just wet and traffic was light. We were even able to use the cruise for most of the way, although we encountered some ice on bridge decks and in the shady areas. We stopped in Whitecourt for a bite of lunch where we met Morris & Michelle Greschner on their way home. Back on the road and by the time we got to the Sangudo area they were dry and bare. Traffic was heavier on the Yellowhead highway and we took the bypass going thru Devon to Highway #2.
Stopped at Red Deer for fuel and a chance to wash the windows. The road spray from the first part of the journey was creating problems on the side windows, rear camera, lights and we knew it would be dark before stopping and didn't need that complication. It was a pretty good cross wind all the way from Red Deer. Traffic on the QEW or #2 was heavy all the way to Calgary.
We took the Stoney Trail bypass in Calgary where the traffic was much lighter. By then the sun had set, we are heading up to the shortest day of the year. We made it as far as High River, just south of Calgary, so 815 km's today, where we checked in to a Ramada hotel. The room is fine, but nothing great. For supper tonight we went to Boston Pizza and it was good as well.
We are well positioned to cross the border tomorrow and make it through the area where we encounter the most challenging weather.
Saturday 16 November 2019
A new year, a new journey to the sunny south
November 17th and we will be off.
We planned to start our journey to the south on Monday, but with the weather forecasts in Montana we are leaving a day early. Tuesday looks to have a potential for freezing rain and Wednesday for snow. We will see how early tomorrow as it is raining tonight and as long as the roads don't ice up the plan will be to get through most of Alberta by evening.
It is supposed to be a decent day tomorrow and we are in the starting blocks.
Had a nice evening with the family tonight with a fondue and reclet and a dozen hungry folks. We had pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, crab, a cheese fondue and a lot of veggies followed up with a couple of cakes. One to celebrate Sam's birthday. I even made hotel reservations for two nights on the road, so fingers crossed. The rates are sure better booking in advance instead of just driving up.
Stay tuned, we'll see how it goes.
We planned to start our journey to the south on Monday, but with the weather forecasts in Montana we are leaving a day early. Tuesday looks to have a potential for freezing rain and Wednesday for snow. We will see how early tomorrow as it is raining tonight and as long as the roads don't ice up the plan will be to get through most of Alberta by evening.
It is supposed to be a decent day tomorrow and we are in the starting blocks.
Had a nice evening with the family tonight with a fondue and reclet and a dozen hungry folks. We had pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, crab, a cheese fondue and a lot of veggies followed up with a couple of cakes. One to celebrate Sam's birthday. I even made hotel reservations for two nights on the road, so fingers crossed. The rates are sure better booking in advance instead of just driving up.
Stay tuned, we'll see how it goes.
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