Yes

I have lost interest in my Blog. I really do need to get back into it. It’s not that I am doing nothing or there is nothing going on around here, quite the opposite. Susan and I were invited on a boat ride a few weeks back.

It was really nice to get out on the water again even though the water was way too cold yet to get wet.

I got a knock on the door the other day from a friend that wanted me to join them on a Razor ride. I accepted and had only 30 minutes to get ready.

There was 7 Razors and we tailored them up to Oatman and rode from there.

I came across my first Gila Monster in the wild. Tomorrow we are heading out again on the razors.

The other day I got over $400 worth of tires for the Saturn for a little over $160. Since the odometer on the Saturn showed I didn’t get my 50,000 miles from the tires, they prorated them. I didn’t mention the thousands of miles I towed it behind the motorhome.

The weather is getting warm here in Havasu and soon it will be getting hot. All the flowers are blooming including my cactus.

Looking good. The down side is since I work part time here at the resort that means there are hundreds of plants that are starting to grow and already need some trimming. I see a lot of work coming.

We got a call from the California State Park wanting to know if we wanted to come out of retirement and Camp Host again for a couple of months this summer. We thought it over and decided we like to travel the summers and declined the offer. I think our Grandson wouldn’t mind either way because he likes both traveling and hanging at the beach where the host job was.

Well, hopefully I will be updating this Blog more often in the future.

What happens in Vegas

I can’t really say what I have been doing here in Las Vegas for the last few days. You know what they say, What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well, to tell you the truth, I haven’t done any thing I can't mention. Sunday I took Susan to the Airport. Yesterday I hung out on the Strip for a while. I am a people watcher and the Vegas strip is a good place for that. Since I was by myself I didn’t feel a need to do anything or see anything interesting so I just sat for a while and watched the people go by wondering where they are from and why they are here. Here are a few photos I took.

Today was a real change in weather. The temps have been real comfortable in the 70s here and today was the same however the winds were blowing at around 30 mph with 60 mph gusts. I decided it was a good day to stay out of the wind and shampoo the carpet in the motorhome. The wind is supposed to subside a bit tomorrow to about 15 mph but instead of the 70 degree temps it will only be in the mid 50s. What a change. For the rest of the week though, the wind is going away and the temps will be back up in the high 70s. Just right for NASCAR weekend.

Wahoo! Back on the road

We finally got the motorhome back on the road again. We took off this morning about 11:00mst and arrived in Las Vegas 3 hours later. All the fixes I did from the last trip did well. The motorhome ran great even though we were bucking winds the whole way. Tomorrow I will put Susan on a plane heading for Orlando Florida and I will hang here until Friday when she gets back.

A month

Can you believe almost a month has gone by and no posts? Its just life as usual around here. Oh, Susan and I did have a birthday this month. Well we are getting ready to travel again. It’s about time! I have been itching to hit the road again. Susan got an invite to visit her cousin in Florida for a week and the nearest flight out is in Las Vegas. She thought I was just going to take her over in the car to save on fuel costs. Wrong! I suggested I put her on a plane and hangout in Vegas until she gets back. This will give me some seat time in the motorhome. Oh, Guess what? The weekend she gets back from Florida is NASCAR weekend in Vegas. How convenient. So the plan is to head for Vegas Saturday, Put her on the plan Sunday morning, pick her up on Friday and head on over to the track. We will be heading back to Havasu on Monday morning after the race weekend. I decided instead of staying at the track in a dirt field with no hookups for the week, I will stay at Sams Town RV park for the week. Cost is about the same for full hookups at Sams.

Thursday Hike

Today we hiked to a place here in Havasu called Window Rock. This was a bit difficult to get to and the 20+ mph winds didn’t help much.

As you can see though, we made it.

The view through the window to the desert valley beyond was cool. Once I got on the other side I spotted something I have never seen.

This is a photo of a honeycomb tucked in the rock. This is the first time I have ever seen a honey comb out in the open.

Been real busy lately

There is so much going on, it’s hard to keep up. The other day I went on another off road ride with the guys here in the park. Most have the Polaris Razors and those things are amazing. I can’t believe where these guys can go with these things. There were about 15 units this day and we did an all day, 80-mile ride. They asked me to go on another ride but it was a working day for me so I declined. After telling my boss I was invited he said, “Why didn’t you go, Riding is more important than working. Next time they ask, GO.” Cool boss and cool job.

Also this weekend was the second annual Havasu Balloon Festival. Fowl weather blew out the first one but this one was only interrupted one day and since they extended it a day it didn’t matter. We went 2 days and watched the mass assent and night balloon glow. Lots of venders and entertainment.

See more photos here.

This weekend we also squeezed in a short track race here at the Havasu 95 track and after that went over to the resort manager’s house for Pizza. It’s now quite NASCAR but cool to watch anyway.



Oh and amongst all that I even found time for a colonoscopy. I won’t go into details on that but all is clear.

We are activated

So today, instead of taking the boat over to the California side of the lake, I decided to try going to the end of the island and see if I can pick up the Verizon tower across the lake. It worked. After my phone said I was on a Verizon tower I fired up the MiFi card and it activated within 10 minutes. We are back online with our MiFi.

Another trip to California

Tomorrow we are making another trip to California. No we are not taking the Saturn this time, nor are we taking the motorhome. We are traveling by boat. After talking to 7 different people at Verizon to get this new 4G MiFi card activation issue resolved, I finally got someone to help. Turns out I can’t activate the card here in Havasu because we are on an “extended network”. We need to be on the Verizon network on a Verizon tower. I suggested that to the prior 6 people but they said it didn’t matter. I figure if I can’t get my balance or update my roaming from here, then I surely can’t activate a Verizon device from here. So I got a couple of coupons out of the local paper and tomorrow Susan and I are going to take a free boat ride to the casino over on the California side of the lake where they have a Verizon tower. Hopefully from their we can activate the card and be good to go.

One step forward two steps back

While I was at my daughter’s house over Christmas I noticed they had the new Verizon 4G MiFi card. Also they said their monthly bill is $50. I have the 3G MiFi (old school) and am paying $60 for my service. So I got on line a found that the same data service I am paying $60 for is offered for $50. The difference is the new plan charges extra for data over 5G whereas mine just throttles you back to a slower speed. Now since I never go over the 5G limit I decided to go for the $50 plan. Well what I found is the $50 plan is not compatible with my old 3G MiFi card so I will have to upgrade to the new 4G card. It turns out I am eligible for a free upgrade to the new card under my “New Every Two” plan so I placed the order. The card arrived today, Wahoo!

Here’s the rub, the new card won’t activate here in Havasu. I have been on the phone 2 times for a couple of hours and there is basically nothing they can do. They said to give it overnight to see if it will finally activate. If not they say I can reactivate my old card…that probably won’t work either. If all else fails I will take a drive to a strong Verizon area and try it there. Fortunately there are good Verizon areas near by.

Back Home

We are back in Havasu. What a nice trip. We spent time with our daughter, grandson, and I even got to see my sister. Our daughter’s house that has been under construction for over 5 years is really nice. They still have a lot to do on it but it is coming along nicely. The trip over and back was long and boring but went well. 5 ½ hours on the road is not what I like to do. Our friends here in Havasu fixed dinner tonight so we could just relax. It’s good to be back.

We are here

We made it to California today. We arrives at our daughters house about 1:00 pm their time. The trip went well even though I had a small space to sit compared to the motorhome.

The car was packed for the trip. I was real pleased though that the Saturn got 38.6 MPG. I guess it really likes highway driving.

All packed

We are all packed and ready to go, to California that is. Only this time we are not taking the motorhome. We are going to spend Christmas with our daughter. They finally moved into the house that has been under construction for about 5 years and they have a spare room for us. We of course will be spending time with the grandson and will see Susan’s parents, since they moved back to California. I think the car has just as much stuff in it as we normally carry in the motorhome. Susan didn’t want to fight the crowds in California so she shopped here and we are hauling it all with us.

WHAT!

Have you got a couple of hours to kill? You can find some pretty crazy stuff on the Internet. Check out this website I found by clicking on this photo. I guarantee you sill spend hours. It’s addicting.

Then scroll through the pages by clicking on the link at the bottom of each page.

Were still here

I know, it’s been a while since I added a post to our blog. I have been working 2 days a week as maintenance and 3 nights as security here at the resort. What a cool job. It takes me less than a minute to walk to work (from my lot to the office) and I get to go home for lunch.

Susan’s parents decided the desert life wasn’t for them so we packed up their fifth-wheel and back to California they went. Before they left, her dad offered to traded golf carts so we traded my classic gasser for his more modern electric cart.

Who got the better end of that deal?

We also got a chance to see the last race of the season at our local short track. They will be starting up again in January so I am sure we will be heading out to the track for more then.

Short track racing.

Today I went on a 20 mile ATV ride. We trailered the machines down to Parker and headed for the hills from there. Some of the ride was calm but we got into some pretty hairy stuff.

The use of tow straps were needed and a lot of finesse in some spots. At times we were heading down the trails at close to 40 MPH. What a wild ride.

Here are a few photos, enjoy.

Getting ready to ride

One of the mines we came across. One was a turquoise mine.

Time for Lunch

Horse head canyon.

Came across an old grave site. I think it was one of the miners.

Where's everyone going?

Life in the desert. These are descendants from the burros used by the miners.

There are two sheds loaded with core samples taken from the mountains when they were building the water lines to supply water for Los Angeles.

Hoping you and your family enjoy a fabulous day of food, fun and fellowship.

A Happy holidays and safe travels.

The hikes begin

Each year one of the activities at the resort is hikes into the desert or around the lake. Today was the first for this season and we went to a place known as the “Crack in the wall”. This is a wash that is near the lake.

Here are some photos and you can see more on our photo site by clicking on the link in the left column.

Also the other day there was yet another car show here in Havasu.

Here are a couple of nice Novas.


These next ones have two V8 engines in line under the hood…and partially inside the car.


How’s a Pinto with a blown V6 grab ya.

Havasu Video

A Best of the Road contest sponsored by Rand McNally combined with USA Today traveled across the country in search of the best small towns in America.

Lake Havasu City was mentioned in the "Friendliest" category behind Walla Walla, Washington.

I heard these guys liked the city so well they came back and booked a site here at the resort.

Lake Havasu City, AZ from Gone With the Wynns on Vimeo.

My toes hurt

This new job is killing my toes. Well, actually it’s my shoes that are killing my toes. I can’t remember the last time I wore a pair of shoes. It’s been flip-flops for quite some time now. On the job I still wear my shorts and t-shirts but I figured I should wear shoes rather than flip-flops. My feet are not used to being cooped up in a pair of shoes and it feels like someone took a hammer to my big toes. I remember last year when the weather forced me into shoes my big toes ended up all bruised under the nails. This time I see no bruising but they sure do hurt.

The working man

As I watched our manager here at the resort suffer through the summer trying to keep this place up by himself, I thought, it would be nice if they hired me to help out around here. My investments are down and I have gone into a conserve mode as far as spending so a little extra spending money would be nice. I help out around here a lot so why not get pain for it. So one day I asked the managers what they thought about hiring me. Well the other day while I was raking out the horseshoe pits the manager came over to me and asked if I was still interested in some work. After answering with “Sure” he said lets go into the office. I got hired on the spot. So now I am the new maintenance man for Havasu RV Resort. It’s just a part time gig and I can take time off to enjoy the activities here so that’s cool.

We had the big one

The big car show in town that is. Each year Lake Havasu City’s Relics and Rods Car Clubs puts on the Run to the Sun car show. This year there were 782 entries in the show, of which 263 were Lake Havasu City residents. 132 car clubs participated from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming and 4 contenders from Canada. It is said that there are more classic cars per capita in Lake Havasu City than anywhere else in the country. Sure were some nice cars!

The resort here is filling up quite fast. There are a lot of owners, return visitors and pass troughs coming into the park every day now. It won’t be long before we are full again. Activities are starting back up and so are the cocktail parties. The weather has just been perfect during this transition between the hot summer and cool winter.

Mixed feelings

So recently I called my Financial Advisor and suggested we sell some of my stocks and put the money in a cash account until the market starts to recover from this slump it is in. He agreed so the move took place. The mixed feelings come now when I see the market move in either direction. When the market is up I think I should have left my stocks alone, yet I’m happy because I still have some money in there. When the market is down I am glad I moved some money out of stocks, yet I am sad because I still have stocks that aren’t doing well. I guess the good thing is no matter where my money is it isn’t doing much for me right now. Did I just say that is a good thing? Huh.

It’s starting

We are getting into the “Snow Bird” season here in Lake Havasu City so things are starting to happen. Today they had the Big Boys Toy Show downtown.

Above is a photo of one of the Big Boy Toys…or should I say a Big Toy. This is an example of what was at the show.

After the BBTS I headed out to the Island where they were in the final stages of the 30th Annual IJSBA World Finals.

This is an International Jet Sport Boat Association competition where Jet Skiers from all over the world come to compete. There is also a race tonight at the Speedway in town but we will not be seeing that this time.

Hey I fixed the Stock Market

I got sick of seeing my investments going away day after day as the Market continues to drop so I gave my financial advisor a call. We discussed the situation and both agreed the best thing to do right now is to dump at least half my stocks and put the money in a cash account for now. And when he sees some opportunities he would move some money back in. Well as soon as I did that the market turned around and has been up for the last three days so I guess I fixed the Market. I at least still have the other half in there working for me

I found a real gas tank for my golf cart. I posted a message on one of the golf cart forums on the internet and got a response. After communicating with the guy we settled on a price and he sent it out. I received it today but have to make a couple of minor modes since it is for a different year. Tomorrow I should have it all back together and ready to move on to the next project. I’ve got to say though, the gas can mod worked quite well in the mean time. I have been driving it around for close to 2 weeks with the gas can in there.

It’s that time of year again

Last night I was awakened to the sound of a mouse in the house. This morning I cleaned up the traps, loaded them up with peanut butter, set them and put them in place. It didn’t take long. Shortly after sunset we heard the snap. Sure enough, we got one. The trap is reset and ready for the next one.