Good Bye 2011

Today is the last day of 2011 and as I look back it was a good year for us. We stayed alive and healthy, other than colds, and at our age that could be considered a miracle.
It is amazing how when one ages, we rate our successes on the state of our health, and not on material things as we did in the past.

Today looks like it will be about 22 and it could hit 25 tomorrow but we do have a bit of a pollution problem ( but not so much here as the bigger cities). The air quality deteriorates as the winter high cold air sinks down and traps the pollutants down closer to the earth. Yesterday when we drove home around 5:30 pm it looked very foggy or what we thought was dust in the air but I guess it was smog....Well I guess one can not have everything.

Yesterday Harvey went to play pool in the morning and I watched shuffle board  and went to the Crafty ladies room where no one was there to craft but as that is also the computer room, there were a few there using the WiFi which seems to be stronger there. I have been able to pick up, in the house, a few unsecured networks that I connect through, so no need to go there with my laptop.
We then decided to drive to Maricopa to find the casino and to find the best way to get there. We could have taken the I - 10 but took a back road west of Casa Grande. It got us to Maricopa but we seemed to go in squares..... At Maricopa we decided to go in to the city first and see if we could find Eldon and Shelley Wiebe's house. We put the address in to the GPS and it took us in and out of many many different residential areas, then into an old area, and about 1/2 hour later and I am sure at least 25 different streets we landed in front of the house. We had seen pictures so we knew what it looked like. I do believe we need to either get a new GPS or update the maps.
About 10 mins before this Harvey was desperate for a bathroom and so I knocked on the door and Shelley answered and I said "We need a bathroom"  We had a nice tour of their beautiful home and a little visit with her Mom and Dad and then headed to the casino. A very nice casino and for signing up for a players card we got 2 free Buffet suppers we can use any time in the next month plus $15 each of free slot money. We played for an hour or so, won nothing, and then headed home. We took the Maricopa//Casa Grande highway and decided this route is the best.
I fell asleep at 8 pm and woke up at 6:30 this morning...crazy crazy

A few pictures to try to make it not so boring....

The house next door has a huge orange tree and a grapefruit tree

The cactus in the same yard. It is about 20 feet high

Another type of cactus..I really must learn some cactus names.

 The pool area that may never see my cellulite as they lock it at night when it is dark.

Our dining room and kitchen by night

Getting a new phone

It is very frustrating to get a new phone for the trip with a North America Plan and not be able to have decent service. Sask Tel must have a contract with AT and T and we are told by everyone that they are the pits for getting reception unless you are in the city. I have lost so many calls already and have to keep phoning back, and as well if I am talking, it keeps breaking up and hard to understand.
I also have been having a problem with my billing and they say they can not do anything by email, I need to phone Sask Tel,  Great, but if your phone is not working, how do you phone and have a decent conversation...DUH
So on the 3rd of January we are getting a land line into the house for the 2 remaining months with unlimited calls to Canada.... so I could be calling you ----->>>

More shopping yesterday for a new mattress for the blow up and it was so thick, when we put it on the frame, any one trying to sleep in it would need a ladder to descend to the top and as a light hangs over the bed, certain people would sit up in bed and knock themselves out. So that one will be for the floor and we blew up another thin one that we had brought and made the bed. It looked really good. Harvey could not sleep last night , came out to the living room, watched TV for awhile and then crawled onto the bed with a nice warm throw over him and at 3am his bones were hitting metal as the air exhaled slowly from the mattress.....So another shopping trip lol

Last night we took in a lively evening of Bingo.....NOT.....very slow so I emailed on my phone while we played....Harvey did win one of the big prizes for a black out of $28.00. Oh and Marion the only thing we heard this time was "TOOT TOOT" when I 22 was called. lol.......Oh retirement brings such fun..........

Today we are thinking that we will drive to the Casino at Maricopa for the afternoon......we so wish our friends M and J were there to join us ......but it is always next year country for Saskatchewanites...

Weather Comparison

I was up this morning at 6 am and I always check the app on my iPhone for weather. It shows me home and also here in Casa Grande. This morning it was +2 in SC  and +1 here..... but this afternoon it will be +1 in Swift Current and +21 here. I have always heard that it gets cold in the desert at night but warmer in SC is just silly..... oh any way...we will enjoy the nice weather this afternoon and not complain about the cold mornings. It is so nice to wear my sandals and when I look down, my toes seem to be smiling....Well it is a bit of a toothie grin as I really need a pedicure so that may be on my agenda for today..
We had a visit yesterday afternoon from one set of neighbours that helped us with many questions about the park etc. We also had a visit from old school buddies from LCBI and SC friends Art and Carol Berg and we talked until 7:30 pm , just catching up in each of our lives and that of our children and grandchildren....Art and Carol now live at lake near Regina and drive their very large motor home down pulling a trailer with their Edge car on it and a Quad..(very brave people). They are settled in at a park about 20 minutes from here near Florence.

Our agenda for today is shopping for a blow up mattress, picking up tickets for a bus trip to Yuma and Algodones (Mexico)....they have wonderful cement turtles there.... and tonight YEAH bingo. (Stay tuned for what gets yelled out at these Bingos, Marion lol).

How many times can one say Good Morning?

In Senior (well they call them Adult) RV Parks, everyone is so friendly.  If you walk to the Activity Centre, the Community Centre, or the Club House, every person you pass says good morning, or stops and introduces themselves. I have met more Joe's Jim's, Mary's, Donna's etc that I would never remember their names, but maybe the face will look familiar, I hope.
The last two days we have been busy in town (7 mile drive), shopping for things we need for the house.
A car load of groceries, towels (for use here and home) more bedding, and many stops at 2nd hand stores and dollar stores looking for things to make the place look lived in. As it was for sale and very sparse furnishings, we needed to warm it up a bit with flowers, ornaments etc.

We have bought tickets for a show and also a Mystery Dinner, also the New Years day brunch, volunteered for helping with the theatre production if they need help, also the library if help needed and marked down lots of other things to check out like the Texas Holdum Tournament , Crafty ladies, and today Harvey is going to play billiards.

We set up the blow up bed yesterday in the corner of the living room for company when they come, bought a bright comforter and pillows to make it look not so much a bed as a sitting place lol. This morning the air bag that we patched many times is flat again. So we will go buy a new one and this time , no little feet will jump on it. lol  It was used in Karen's cabin and many kids used it as a mini trampoline me thinks......

For those of you coming to visit, you will be comfortable, you will have no snow, the temperature gets warm by afternoon, you will be fed well, your room  and board is free, BUT your bed is in living room so not very private. I will take drugs while you are here so I DO NOT get up at 5 am and sit and stare at your sleeping body lol . And...as this is a senior park, everyone shuts down by 9 and in bed by 9:30 so you will be up early too....lol

Landed in La La Land

We had a wonderful 3 hour drive from Flagstaff to Casa Grande as the mountain snow wafted away and was replaced with desert and cactus..
We arrived around 1 pm in Casa Grande and drove into the city to get the car washed. Our nice white Journey looked a weird shade of grey with all the mud,and salt. Then drove the 5 miles to Sunscape which is out in no mans land. After driving through Phoenix with its 6 lanes of highway and mega drivers (even on Christmas Day), all doing 125 k, I can not see why any one would winter in the big cities.
It is still cool here. Only 15C yesterday but will get to 20 by weekend.
We unpacked the car and then took a couple of hours trying to figure where to put things so we could find them again.

We had not eaten since 8 am so by 5 we were starved and quickly made our Christmas dinner with the few things we had picked up and put in the little cooler a day before. It was delicious.
After washing some clothes we settled into the love seat and I surfed the net while Harvey did his crosswords. No TV yet so kind of boring. Today we are off to town to buy supplies to fill frig and cupboards and find a few things to make the place a bit homey. But first we must check in at the office to let them know we are here and then maybe do a little walk to find out where all the activity centers are located.  Stay tuned for more senior moments.  It was funny yesterday to watch all the golf carts slow down as they past our place, looking at our license plate. "Oh new people" lol

3 hours left

A beautiful day to day as we drove from Tucumcari to Albuquerque. Bright sunny skies and a clear road made the trip easy. Lots of snow piled along the roads as we got to the higher altitudes so we could see that it was a good thing that we had not travelled yesterday. Instead of going south to the Mexican border and then up through Tucson as we had planned we decided to travel west and tonight we are settled in at Flagstaff Arizona. Tomorrow it is just a 3 hour drive to our place at Sunscape and we connected tonight with the lady who has the key so by noon we will be unpacking our vehicle and emptying our suitcases.....Here is what most of the last 4 days and 3500 miles looked like....

Harvey drove every mile and I fell asleep often

Tonight we opened a couple of gifts we brought along, and had a wonderful piece of Key Lime pie and with that note we wish you each adieu and may your Christmas be great tomorrow.

We will be having lobster tail and steak in our new winter home tomorrow evening and probably wishing we were with each of you......

"Get your Kicks on Route 66"

Any one remember that song by Nat King Cole in the 60's ..."Get your Kicks on Route 66"
We started the morning in Dalhart, Tx with the usual continental breakfast and were on the road by 8:30 and headed towards Tucumcari, New Mexico which still has many of the historic route 66 vintage motels with the neon lights and restaurants from the 30's and 40's. The sun was out and the sky was blue and the road was clear with very little traffic... About 45 mins into the drive we heard on the radio that the storm coming through western New Mexico may close I 40 and in fact all the 2000 hotel rooms in Tucumcari were full. This seemed strange as the weather and roads were terrific. We got to Tucumcari and flashing signs said I 40 closed find shelter for night. This was at 10 am ......WHAT!  We continued on and soon found semi's trucks, cars, motor homes all stopped along the side of the highway and every off road. We kept going in the one lane and the stopped vehicles were now 2 deep. Many people sleeping in car or walking around, talking to others. We kept going...let them stop us!  We finally got up to the barricades and police and stopped and asked WHY? In an unfriendly voice he said ice and snow possible. We asked if we could get off and he pointed to an off lane ahead.... We headed back to the town and that route was full on both sides with bumper to bumper stopped vehicles. We figured there must have been thousands of cars and semis just sitting on the highways for miles and miles that we could see.....
We passed many older motels etc and they did not look full.....What do we do...We finally found a K Mart and walked around and talked to a few people who said that the road from Tucumcari to Albuquerque can be treacherous if there is a heavy snowfall and crazy drivers cause many accidents and deaths, so instead they just close it down until danger is past..... Well it soon started to snow and we figured instead of sleeping in the car we would try for a room. We got one the first try.....I think it may have been exaggerated about no rooms. So at high noon, we are sitting in a hotel room seeing our hopes of reaching our winter home before Christmas melt before our eyes.We had a sleep and at 3:30 we woke to a beautiful sunny afternoon and a very busy I 40 off in the distance. Those people sitting on the highway were right. Sit and wait it out. So we had a complete wasted day as these woozy New Mexicans have no idea how to handle winter weather....Come to Canada and learn how to drive in the snow....and that was OUR kicks on Route 66.

Are you sure we are not in Canada?

Snow, snow and more snow...... Today the roads were very hazardous as a lot of the way was icy and slush on roads along with snow drifting across it. Most of the day we only were able to go around 80 and sometimes slower. We drove through Kansas and planned to have lunch in Dodge City,

but after driving around a bit and the snow falling harder we decided "To get out of Dodge" and hightailed it further south thinking we could out run the posse (or as you call it..SNOW), then a 45 min drive through the tip of the Oklahoma / Texas Panhandles and tonight we are bedded down in Dalhart, Texas

A look out the window and it looks no different than out our front window at the Lake.... Who pulled his switcheroo as I hear it is getting brown and warm there. It looks like more snow warning for tomorrow so stay tuned for our where abouts tomorrow night.

The one nice part is that gas is about .78 a liter so it is much cheaper to fill up the vehicle. Hotels are averaging about $68 and that is Super 8's, plus a hot good breakfast included. Meals are about the same as home, we have found so far, but junk food is cheap so chips, cheese, fruit or a bar, have been our lunches and then we do not stop until late afternoon.
Ok anyone bored yet? I think reading a travel blog may be like watching someones home movies..lol

The Yellow Brick Road ?

Two provinces and four states down. It seemed like a very long day driving through Nebraska and into Kansas. Funny, I have a real urge to put on my red jewelled shoes, click my heels, and say "There is no place like home" lol
There is nothing but miles and miles of brown land, brown trees, and brown highways.
Every place we stop for gas, bathroom or coffee, the people are so friendly and bubbly as they tell us to have a great Christmas. We just assure them we will and don't tell them that we have already had ours.
My phone quit working this morning, as it said "No Service"...I just thought it was the area we were in, but when in large cities, still no service. When we stopped for the night at Salina, KS , I phoned Apple first and that was useless as they said to take it back where I bought it. I think the guy was just tired and wanted to go home for the day. After an hour on the phone with SaskTel (or someone they contract out to answer) and many switches to different technicians, I had to take out the SIM card and clean it on my sleeve, put it back and BAM I had service again. 
Tonight we try to figure out what route to take tomorrow as there is quite a bit of snow here after the big storm, and as they are forecasting more snow tomorrow for Albuquerque and other areas we are heading to, so we may travel further south before we go west. We will go to Roswell New Mexico and try to see a few aliens and a space ship or two..

What a Beautiful Drive

We left Winnipeg this morning around 9:15 and by the time we were about 20 minutes into North Dakota, there was not a sign of snow. Brown all around and highways perfect.
At the border we had to drive into a garage so the Agriculture Department could look and question us on what we had in all those boxes in the back. Thank goodness they did not open the one box filled with all the plastic bags with white powders that were icing sugar, corn starch, sugar, flour and Splenda. Actually it would have been fun watching him taste each one to find the cocaine lol
We could have driven farther but decided to stop around 4:30 at Brookings SD as we had not stopped all day except to get gas.
The gas prices are certainly cheaper but mostly ethanol, and we had a bit of a time finding out if our vehicle could use it as there are signs all over the pumps saying ....DO NOT USE unless your vehicle is equipped for it.  Well if we had just looked at the gas cap on our car, we would have seen that we can use it and saved a bit of stress lol.
Harvey is now having a much needed nap, and then out for supper at Applebees across the road, then an early night so we can get going  as soon as the sun is up. We sure hope all the snow and closed roads disappear before we get to New Mexico.....who would have thought that the south would be worse than the north drive.

Warming up our Wings

These two snowbirds in training are feeding well and exercising our wings for the 5 day journey starting today. We have completed 850 of the 4100 kms and hope to drive about 7 hours a day only, if possible, depending on road and weather conditions.....I will be off line during the day as I have to turn of the data on my iPhone but hopefully can get wireless at night.... It would be hard to be offline for 5 days....I may go into withdrawal....and that would not add to Harvey's in car driving experience. I just checked the weather where we are going and it has only been about 16 but by Jan 2nd it will be 24 so I  think that should erase the memory of blowing snow, shoveling and winter boots. Goodbye Winnipeg, hello North and South Dakota today

Packed and still room for a cat

The car is packed other than suitcases and gifts and tomorrow we clean house and wash bedding so if we die, are kidnapped or get lost in the desert,  the house will be presentable... Now would I even care if I am dead?  Silly isn't it , how we clean to go away. Humans are strange characters.....
Now my only worry is the wild cats that I feed on the deck each day. They have adopted us, a mother cat and a cute teenage kitten with the dearest eyes. The mother hizzes everytime Harvey puts food out for them and Harvey scolds and hisses back telling her she should be grateful that we feed her. I know if I invited the kitten in , it could be tamed in no time     ......GOSH did I actually say that???? no we do not want animals any more! A few big male cats come by to dine sometimes as well. We bought another 50 pounds of cat food yesterday and hope that those checking our house will fill the bowl from time to time.... I  will not worry, I will not worry......At least I gave them a good start, with cooked past date meat from a friend, lots of warmed up canned cat food and when the hard food is cold in the morining I even microwave that for them. I am sure they will wonder what happened and hopefully they will find another place as good to feed them..... That reminds me, I should wash the nice warm blankets in their cat house as well. The ugly big old males pee on it to mark thier territory but the little one still goes in there to eat...one day he will get beat up I am sure.....Hmnn or if he,.... is a girl cat.... worse....

Why we chose Sunscape.

After a bad winter last season, we thought of selling our place and moving to SC first, but I was not ready for that yet, We then looked at the option of house sitting in SC for this winter, but as our friends were going south to Maricopa, Az to stay in their son's place, we decided to try going south for 2 months and started looking in the area around Maricopa... I read about the city of Casa Grande and it sounded very nice and started to search for RV Resorts there, but I found that many are not very up to date in having a web site or if they did it was not very user friendly. It was very hard to find listings of rentals of Park Models and if there were any, they would only rent for 3-4 months..no one wanted 2 month renters.... I did find a few and most rented any where from 1200 - 1800 a month. I found the web site for Sunscape that is a privately owned resort which is 7 miles outside of Casa Grande. They had a great selection of "for rent", "for sale or rent" and "for sale".  I contacted about 50 and received emails back from about 30 of them, but once again, they were either already rented or wanted someone for the 3 month stay.  Someone advised me to contact some of the ones that were "for sale only" as sometimes they were willing to rent. I hit gold when I found our new friends Harold and June Tiegs who had a nearly new (in fact the living room addition had never been lived in) park model and the rent was reasonable The only problem is due to health reasons Harold and June had to leave this home and move with their daughter, and in doing so took everything out of the place as it was now for sale. So with only a few dishes, a bed, a table and chairs, a love seat, 2 end tables and a small TV, the place is empty. Therefore, we have a car full of things to take to try to make it more homey and as well we will hit the dollar stores, garage sales and second hand stores to add a bit more. 
But the sad part is that due to a change in medication, our friends can not go south as they would be with out any insurance as of now... We are hoping that they may be cleared by February.

Itinerary

We leave December the 13th and will spend 2 days in Regina visiting Thelma and Don and family and also having time with Kathy who has now been in the hospital for nearly 11 months and only able to move her eye lids and her mouth to laugh and cry. Hopefully we can can bring more laughs to her and lessen the cries.  We then leave on Dec 15th to go to Winnipeg to visit with our daughter Shannon and our granddaughters Rachel and Celine. We will have an early Christmas with them and also celebrate Celine's 11th birthday on December 20th and leave the morning of the 21st to start our 4 - 5 day drive south through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and then up to Arizona. It will be a longer drive but we will see places we have never been before. The greatest part is no icy snow filled mountain passes which we dislike. We hope to arrive at our Arizona home in Sunscape RV Resort by Dec 25th or 26th.

Time to get packing

In my working days, I swore that I would never become a senior one day that attended every free event in the city, came to the credit union for free coffee and donuts on credit union day, ask for my senior discount every time I shopped, clip coupons and hold up lines as I hunted for them in my purse, be a snow bird, pay for items with coin as I held up more lines hunting for the right coins ....and many more things that irked me about seniors. Well I have avoided many of those things but after a winter that was too long and too much snow last year, we are heading south for 9 weeks. We are not sure we will be able to stay away that long but we will try.

I will use this blog as a way to journal our time traveling south and our life in a senior RV resort doing the usual senior things.....

You are welcome to read and follow us but this is a warning.....it may cure you from ever driving south to become a snow bird one day.....

(Arguments in the car on travel decisions will be edited to protect the innocent)