October 2020

 I am so excited to actually be able to write that we are heading to our home in Arizona this month. 

We have been packing and getting ready for this mass evacuation that we are undertaking. I have spoke that our plans are to pull the Jeep behind the motor home and also our 14’ trailer will be behind the Jeep. Makes for a long long pull but we should be able to make it happen. 

October 4th we leave the house for the roughly 1200 mile trip. We are loaded and feel that everything should ride great. I guess time will tell. 

I’m a bit nervous (always am) but Chuck has lined out our gas stops and best places to pull off etc. Our first day we make it to Clines Corner in New Mexico. We are taking I-40 as far as Flagstaff before we start dropping down to Yuma. We actually spend the night in the parking lot of Clines Corner. Not knowing if we would have anyone bothering our stuff on the trailer was a little concerning but I’m happy to report it was all there the next morning. I am not happy to report that our on board generator is not working.  I am also reporting our inverter has decided to not work either  We basically have no source of ac power and will have to rely on dc power alone to run the rig.  This sucks but we make the best of it and decide to rest up and tomorrow will be better 

We are up and ready to make some miles and the one hour time difference makes us feel like we are really getting a head start on the day.  I was able to boil water and make French press coffee for Chuck. The overnight oats were perfect for starting our day. 

There seems to be a lot of travelers on the road today and even some are quite interesting!  You just never know what you might see along the way. 

Bronco got a good rest and was ready to make some miles too  She is such a good traveling companion We really enjoy her but could do with less hair shedding! 

The wild flowers along the roadside as we get closer to Flagstaff are beautiful. The yellow is such a pretty bright color to see against the sun scorched grasses that accompany them. Every once in awhile you see a purple wild flower. I just love seeing all the fall colors of the desert. 

 

We make our way to our exit and say goodbye to I-40 and get to experience Highway 17 for awhile. Chuck had our sights on a rest area that he thought would be a good stopping place for us but we opted to keep going and see about another one up the road as it was too early to shut down for the day. We reach the next area around 4pm. 

It’s hot and we are sitting outside the rig discussing our options. We can either sit where we're at with no air conditioning and smelling the trash from the overflowing trash bins or continue driving in the rig using the air conditioning from the rig. 

You guessed it we are moving on. It’s going to be an extremely long day but we decided to go ahead and make it to Yuma where we can plug in and relax the next morning. The generator and inverter issues are very concerning and frustrating and we can deal with them later.  We just need to get down the road. 

I’m happy to say that by 9PM we were almost to our casita.  My phone rings and it’s our friend Tony asking where we were at. I tell him we are only blocks from our place.  He says he is glad to hear it and we will talk tomorrow. By the time we turn down our street we see some bright lights behind us. It’s Tony and Heidi. They have come to help us get this long mess of stuff in our lot. It was nice to have some headlights to help us see where we were going. Wow. What a day. I know Chuck is totally worn out but we are both glad we went ahead and kept on driving. Our mule train has made it without any problems. We didn’t lose anything and we didn’t hit anything. All good except the issues with the rig. Tomorrow is another day and we will figure out what we need to do later. Time to rest!!!

Amazing what a good nights sleep can do. So wonderful to be “home”. Of course we have lots of things to do.  First and foremost we have to get the long long trailer of "stuff" unpacked.  

Its hot so we work a little at a time, but realize that we are both tired from our travels.  Maybe we need to rest a little more today! 

Little did I know that the "rest" was going to end at 3AM.  I wake up and realize Chuck isn't in bed.  I start looking for him and when I open the door to the casita I see a glow of light coming from the direction of the garage.  Yep, he is up and has already unloaded the trailer that we hauled all the stuff on.  Of course I was supposed to help him do that as it is heavy, but looks like my guy has other plans.  

I stand out there for a bit but I have to say I need my "beauty sleep" and I went back to bed.  I have never been a very early or middle of the night person, and this proves it!  

Up and ready to get the leaves cleaned out from the patio I soon realize that there is a whole lot more leaves and limbs than I want to tackle.  I contact our next door neighbor for José's phone number so we can get this mess cleaned up.  Luck would be on our side as José was down the street cleaning on Doris and Johns place.  He came down and gave us a price and said he would be be back in the next few days and get it cleaned up.  I get a call at 10:30am and José said he would be able to go ahead and clean our place in about 30 minutes.  I was so happy to see he was able to get to us quicker so we can get this done and get the patio set up.  

By noon José and his crew had been there, cleaned, cut the limbs on the trees, and already left.  Now we can get all the stuff out of the garage and continue unpacking. 

Since this is really our first year to come back after a very hot summer we have now learned to contact José a few weeks before we arrive and have this cleaning done so we don't have to worry with it!  Lesson learned!  

10-14-2020 

My sweet friend Heidi and I decide to go to Algodonas as she had been told that a lot of vendors are open and the town is complying with the Covid protocol and wearing mask and using sanitizer.  It was so much fun to step across the border into the sweet little town we love.  The vendors are glad to see the American money coming across the border. They were also very good at bargaining so Heidi and I bought quite a bit.  I bought a very heavy frog birdbath and they had a guy follow us to the border with it on a makeshift dolly.  My instructions were to take the dolly over the border, unload, and then bring it back into Mexico.  I was about worn our by the time we got the heavy dolly back to the vehicle, but I wasn't finished.  I now had to get the dolly back over to the guy that was waiting for it on the other side of the border.  Not wanting to have to go back through customs I asked a couple that was walking to go into Mexico if they would mind taking the dolly to the guy on the other side. They agreed to do it once I assured them I wasn't transporting drugs....LOL.  I was so appreciative to that couple...…and I think Heidi and I need to not buy so much next time....RIGHT!!!! Like that will happen  :) 

10-20-2020 

The border to Los Algodones were open from 6am to 2pm, and we had been told that you better be back over by 2pm or you will be spending the night over there.  It has been really hot (high 90's) and the getting out early and getting done wasn't a problem for us seasoned shoppers.  Since we now know who is open and have a list compiled Heidi and I hit the border running so to speak!  Yes we overbought once again and this time I am wagging home a bog ole cow or bull head.  As we walked down the streets of Algodones the vendors figured out really quickly to get out of our way as we had the "Bull by the horns" and we weren't taking prisoners!  Once we got to the border crossing I encountered a bit of a slow down as the border patrol that was checking me back into the USA wasn't sure if I was going to be able to bring my "cow head" back into the country. I stood there very patiently and finally he said I could go on through.  Wow, everything in my mind was whirling during that brief few minutes.  Like, why would they sell something that I wasn't able to bring back into the USA....LOL, but if you really think about it there is a lot of that stuff that really can't come back over...will have to pay attention to this next time.  Safe and secure back in the USA we go home with our latest treasures and a story to go along with them...…always an adventure for sure  :)

The first picture above is the (almost) before pic of the skull.  The one below is when I finished painting it.  My inspiration was one of the many Mexican blankets I have drug over from Algadones!  I was pleased with my finished work of art!   

10-22-2020

Chuck has put "Lil Bit" the RZR on the trailer so we can take it to the shop and have the suspension and shocks worked on.  The shop wasn't as busy as they usually are due to the cancellation of a lot of off road things going on in Glamis.  Seems to be the time to get some stuff done. They said she would be ready the following day but it wasn't.  It actually took them until the following week, but all is good as we weren't going to be going on any rides that quickly. Once we got it back we did take it out to see how the improvements were and we are happy to say that the ride is a lot better and a lot quieter.  Think this was a needed update for sure.  

10-25-2020

We haven't braved eating out in quite a while, but decided to go with Tony and Heidi to the Prison Brewery for lunch today.  It was so nice to be out and sitting at a table eating lunch. We chose to eat outside.  The inside was pretty busy with people and the outside just seemed better to us.  The food was great and the company of Heidi and Tony was even better.  Enjoyed our little escape from Covid reality!  

10-27-2020

As if we hadn't been to Algodones enough this month we decide to make one last trip over before the end of the month.  This time we had extra partners in crime.  MaryEllen and Doris accompany Heidi and I.  In true form we all brought back a load of stuff.  I have to say I didn't go as wild this time but MaryEllen and Doris took up the slack of my shortcomings.  We had a blast! 

Sadly back in Oklahoma we are having a really bad ice storm and so many people are without electricity.  Our house has none and will not have it for about 7 days.  Our trees look like a tornado has gone through them.  It reminds us of the ice storm in 2015.  Friends have gone by and sent us pictures of the house.  It all looks good from the outside.  The refrigerators are going to be the next concern as the outage is not going to be a small one.  

Mother and Louie had electricity a lot longer than I expected but it finally hit them and now they are in the dark like most everyone in the central and western Oklahoma areas.  They are reporting that this is one of the largest outages they have ever experienced.  

10-28-2020

I am working out in the cactus bed moving rocks and cleaning up and much to my surprise a small but eager snake popped out and scared me to death.  I jump up and head to find Chuck.  Back at the rock I use my hoe handle to lift it and sure enough the little guy is still under there.  He is all coiled up and trying to be hidden I think.  It was a small rattle snake....he only had maybe two buds on his tail.  They say the bite of a baby is a lot worse because they just inject the whole amount of venom unlike an adult that can control the amount.  I was not impressed by this little guy and I quickly called Tony to bring down his snake shot and kill this little guy.  I kept saying he was small, but by the time they got him out from under the rocks he was about 18 to 20" long.  Have to say it startled me and I have decided to not continue working in the rocks for the next few days.  You always hear there are usually more, and I don't want to find out!

 

The end of the month brings beautiful sunsets and a glorious full moon.  

We had a little get together on the patio with a few of our neighbors.  We stayed our distance and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and most of all being able to spend some quality time with our friends.

  

October closes with everyone healthy.  Still no electricity in Oklahoma...but everyone is fairing pretty well.  I worry about mother and Louie and I am doing as much as I possibly can.  This is when that 1200 miles away is really difficult.