Followers

Hey, I see that my list of followers has finally shown up, see right column. For quite a while the title Followers has been the only thing that was showing. Now there are actually photos with names. Welcome back y’all!

The wind was short lived. It only lasted a day and now it is beautiful here again. Too bad it’s time for many to head back up north. Won’t be long before it’s only Susan and I again. We are NOT going to spend the summer here again…well the whole summer. We will be heading to California the first of June to pick up our Grandson again this summer and will travel with him for a few weeks. After we drop him off back home for school we will probably come on back here. This will be in August so yeah it will still be HOT.

WIND

Man was it windy today. It got up to over 30 MPH and everyone was securing their belongings. I took a cruise around the park and secured a few items for people that have already left for the summer. Tomorrow is supposed to be a better day.

We use Verizon for our cell service including our wireless Internet. Here in Havasu Verizon does not exist. We are on Extended Network on our phone and I am able to pick up 1 bar of signal for my Aircard from the Verizon tower 6 miles away across the lake. This all sounds good but a lot of the time it doesn’t work well. Just about every call gets dropped at least once. My Aircard works most of the time, although slow, but there are times it can’t find the Internet. I called Verizon yesterday to see if there was anything that can be done. The service tech told me he could put in a service ticket but it would get rejected because I haven’t updated my roaming since December. I explained to him that I couldn’t update my roaming because I am on Extended Network and can only do that while on a Verizon Network. He offered no help there. Huh…Great customer service! Today I traveled to the end of the island here in Havasu to see if I could pickup a Verizon signal on our phone to update it. I was successful in doing this to activate my Aircard but this time I could not find a Verizon signal. Either their tower is out of whack or their signal strength is weaker than it used to be. But they won’t look into it until I update my roaming!

No NASCAR?!

As you all might know, Susan is a big Jimmie Johnson fan. So she if she can’t watch NASCAR she is not a Happy Camper. Today about a half hour before the race, she tuned the TV into the FOX network to watch the race and this is what she found.

Seems DirecTV is at it again, battling with the networks and apparently lost this one, and on NASCAR day no less. I told her not to fret, we will just head up to the Club House and watch. After confirming it was on in the Club House I got a brain storm. My next door neighbors are hooked up to cable and since their utility pedestal is only about 10 feet from my patio TV…

A cable splitter and a few feet of cable solved that problem. In a short period of time we were watching NASCAR on our patio TV.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much I could do about Clint Boyer crashing Jimmie out of the lead close to the last lap.

Another great ride

Today we put about 80 miles on the Razors. We headed out about 10:30a and arrived back about 5:00p. It was a long dirty ride but it sure beats a day at work.

We rode over to Golden Shores for lunch then headed back on a different route. The trails are getting pretty worn and “washboard” since they have been rode hard all winter. We need a good summer monsoon rain to smooth them out again.

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.