Yuma and Mittry Lake 2010

We are in Yuma area enjoying the wonderful weather. Except today it is a little cool and rainy. But yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny.

Dean and I arrived in Yuma on Dec. 15 and stayed the first week in the Foothills with our Boomer Friends Chuck and Jan. They hosted a happy hour on Dec. 17 and the first picture is of all the Boomers that participated in the Happy Hour. After drinks and appetizers we went to the local Christmas parade (3 blocks away) and then walked around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.

On Wednesday, Dec. 22, Dean and moved out to Mittry Lake, just North of Yuma to enjoy Christmas and New Year's with the Boomers. Chuck and Jan joined us the next day. When we arrived I spotted this white Heron in the bushes by the canal. Mittry is a very pretty area with a canal on one side of the campground and a small lake on the other side. There are lots of birds and very few people.

The picture below is Christmas Day with the Boomers. We had 23 at a potluck with fabulous food and weather. Ron and Sharon were the most festive with their santa hats.

Tuesday, Dec. 28, six of us did a hike up into the hills by Mittry Lake and got some great photos of the area. In the picture below you can see our RV's with the canal on the right and the lake on the left. It is a beautiful area.

These are the hardy hikers: Dee and Bruce, Tom, Ron, Nick and I was taking the picture. We hiked for about 2 and a half hours over some pretty rugged terrain.

Currently,Dean and I are in Yuma staying at Independent Hydraulics getting our levelers worked on. We drove the RV over on Monday and here it is Wednesday and they are not ready yet. We have spent 2 nights in the parking lot and it looks like we will spend 1 more. Oh well, that's the price of owning a home on wheels. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to rejoin our friends at Mittry for the big New Year's celebration.

Australia trip 2010

Finally - back to our blog. Here are some pictures from our trip to Australia in Oct and Nov.

They are not in any particular order.

The picture below is sunset at Uluru (Ayer's rock) outside of Alice Springs in Central Australia.

Dean and I did a camel ride, also in the Alice Springs area.

Kangaroo Island was our favorite. We stayed in a cottage out in a field and the kangaroos, koalas, and wallabies were numerous.

Also from Kangaroo Island - Remarkable Rocks formation along the shoreline.

The Great Ocean Road was very beautiful. This area is called the 12 Apostles.

I will try to put more pictures in as I do future blogs. We are in Yuma now in the RV and on the road for 10 months. Maybe I will have more time to blog!

It is HOT here in Prescott. Sandy and Keith are up for the day from Phoenix and I am trying to show her how to blog???

The tile setters are still work ing on the bath. Dean has finished the deck and we are waiting for the railing. We are all still working away on this old house!

The picture below is Dean and Mike working on the deck and the small deck Dean built in front on the house.

Reading friends blogs made me want to post at least something -

even if we are committed to staying in Prescott this summer.

Remodeling is going slow - the tile man has been here for over 3 weeks and has at least one more week of work. The picture below is when he started the shower. The other picture is when we replaced the driveway in June.

Dean is almost ready to lay down the trex on his deck on the east side of the house.

Weather here has been windy, windy, and windy!!

We are committed to getting this remodel done and then we can start

traveling again.

I have been to the cabin twice - the first picture is Memorial day weekend and the second is our infamous girl's weekend. We hope to get to the cabin in August when and if the remodel is finished.

Kansas celebrating Mom's 89th birthday

We are in Kansas at Dean's brothers pig farm. We came to Kansas to celebrate Dean's mothers (Margorie) 89th birthday. When we arrived last Saturday we had a big party with a lot of the relatives to celebrate the birthday and mother's day. There were about 17 here and we had a wonderful time with everyone.

The picture on the right is the front of brother Tom's house. Tom is starting a fire so we can have hotdogs outside tonight. Barb (Tom's wife) is sitting on the swing.

During this week Dean and I have driven Margorie all over the area. We went to places that they lived when Dean was young, lakes that they had spent time at, old farm houses, and to see Dean's oldest daughters (Stephanie) new home in Atchison, Ks. We have even had a couple of storms with some tornado warnings. Dean's youngest daughter (Suzie) had a tornado touch down in her neighborhood this week but they had minimal damage, thank goodness. Chalk off coming back here in December - the weather is too snowy and May because of the tornados.

We are returning to Arizona tomorrow and will be glad to be home in Prescott with our house and our dog Chica.

Below is a picture of Dean's brother, Tom, getting a fire started so we can use our new whumpum sticks to cook our hotdogs and Dean with his mother.

Ajo, the "Steps", Yuma

Currently we are off Ogilby Road, west of Yuma. We are parked by Chuck and Jan Moore and Ron and Bernita Poutney. Dee and Bruce Richmond came in yesterday. The eight of us are with the Boondockers, who are scattered around this area. When we got here on Thursday the weather was beautiful but we have had a lot of windy days. We have been having a great time with the other couples: happy hour celebrating our new rigs, group dinners, and playing Mexican Train, watching the Olympics, going for long hikes. What a great group!! We will probably be here for another week. And then return to Prescott.

At Ajo we parked on BLM land. There were a lot of rigs. We went to the fiddle contest on Thursday night and then again on Sunday. Some of the fiddle players were very good. We especially liked the young kids that played.

On Friday, I went for a 16 mile bike ride with Dee and Bruce to Ajo and we did three geocaches. The other days we hiked with the group, attended the happy hours and the campfires.

And one of the highlights of the week was celebrating Dean’s 63^rd birthday with cake and ice cream at the happy hour.

On Monday we went to Lake Havasu City for the Winter Blast. We stayed at “the Steps” . The “Steps” is a development that did not make it but it is a great place to park since the only thing the developers did was level a lot of the area. Besides the Boomers, the Rovin Rods were also there and we got to see our old friends, Richard and Peggy, from the Oregon crabbing trip this summer. We joined the Rods in the evening for their campfire and the Boomers for happy hour.

While we were at the steps, Matt and Betty Dodson from Oregon joined us. The four of us

went to the fireworks on Friday night. Saturday, Chuck and Jan Moore arrived with their new rig. Chuck and Jan and Dean and I went to Ed’s Birthday party on Saturday and then to the fireworks. The main event was spectacular.

We left the “Steps” on Tuesday and headed back to Quartzsite for two days. During this time we parked at milepost 99 with Chuck and Jan and Loren and Kathy Webster. Then we took off for the last leg of our journey – Yuma.

We arrived to some excitement - a rig had just burned. We hope that never happens to any of us!!!

Quartzsite

We left Prescott Jan 13, bound for Quartzsite and Boomerville. Dean drove the motorhome and I drove the Jeep. We still do not have towing equipment so I had to drive separately. This is our fourth year to Boomerville and the best ever (except for the weather). After traveling with Chuck and Jan this summer we know so many more boomers. And we had our good friends Dick and Beth Miller, Sandy Murray and Keith Forester, and Richard Roberts with us at Boomerville.

Of course, we did the big tent and lots of shopping for things we couldn't do without. And each day there was the hike, interesting sessions, and the happy hour. And many, many potlucks!!! A couple of days we stayed in the rig because of the rain and wind. We were even under a tornado watch one afternoon.

This is our shiny new rig parked at boomerville

Here is Dean, Chica, and Richard on our morning hike.

After Boomerville we spent 3 nights at Starlight Solar in Yuma having more solar installed. Now we are at Ajo with the boondockers and looking forward to the Fiddler's con

test. And, by the way, the weather is gorgeous.