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.

Desperate measures

Since I have been having such a tough time finding a gas tank for my golf cart I decided to improvise.

I know I got too much time on my hands. Well I pulled out my little 2 gallon gas can and it fits pretty well. When I need gas I just slip the hose out of the gas can and head on down to the gas station to fill it up. Susan asked if it works and my reply was, “I don’t know. I haven’t got any gas yet.” This is just temporary until I get a real replacement.

Still here

Wow has it been over 10 days? Not much going on here lately. I am still looking for a gas tank for our golf cart, can’t believe it is so difficult to find a used gas tank for this thing. I need to get on the ball since people are coming back soon and I will have to give up the carts I am taking care of for the summer.

The managers went on vacation and I agreed to help out here if anything that the workampers can’t handle needs attention. Well, the security gate crapped out and I had to fix that. Then it crapped out again so I just opened it up and shut it down until the managers get back. The pool guy decided to fire up the pool heater for the winter and it wouldn’t stay lit so I got involved with that. That was a matter of calling the manufacturer since it is still under warranty. They sent a repair guy out and he was an idiot. I had to call him back 2 more times and it still doesn’t work. I wish I could fix it myself but don’t want to void the warranty.

People are starting to trickle in for the winter here at the resort. Soon this place will be busy again. It has been a quiet summer.

OH GROSS!

One of the things I really dislike about working on vehicles is the smell of 90 weight gear oil. This is what I have in my front wheel hubs that keep leaking. Well today I got to know what 90 weight gear oil taste like. I decided to remove some of the oil in my leaking hub thinking it was over filled and may be contributing to the leak. The only way I can do this without jacking up the motorhome and rotating the wheel so that the drain plug is at the bottom is to suck the oil out. So I got a bit of tubing, removed the drain plug, stuck it in and started to suck. Now this is one thing they tell you NOT to do but every mechanic has done it. Well I sucked a little too hard and got a bit of the oil in my mouth.

My senses were shocked with the smell and taste of the oil. I tried spitting it out but 90 weight oil is some thick stuff. I tried water. I even tried a mouth full of Hydrogen Peroxide and sloshed it around. Then I tried Pepsi. I figured if it will remove acid from batteries it might remove oil from my mouth. Ever try gargling with Pepsi? That actually helped a bit. I still have a nasty taste in my mouth but it is going away.

In your face California

I have mentioned a number of times about the heat here in Havasu this summer but today it was actually hotter in Southern California than it was here. We had a nice low 90s day with cloudy skies and a few drizzles throughout the day. Other than the humidity it was a really nice day. California was seeing high 90s along the coast to over 100 inland today.