Wednesday January 18, 2012
I worked around RV for awhile this morning and suddenly realized today is our anniversary. We have been married 37 years and like Larry, last year, I didn't even buy a card. After this long, does it really make any sense to buy cards as they are quickly read and thrown in a stack of papers that will eventually get pitched in the trash. How romantic married life becomes after this number of years huh!??!
Larry has been busy all day trying to locate the short in the wiring and finally found where a wire was cut outside in the storage area of the RV. He and one of the neighbors tried to remove a group of screws holding the wires but could not get them loose to free up the wire to repair. He just left to go over to the RV Supply to schedule an appointment for someone to come out and fix it. He called to say they will be here SOMETIME tomorrow, which means we'll set her waiting most of day. It will be good to get it fixed as it is all the lights over kitchen table and love seat area. Hard to see to eat and defiantly can't set on that side if you want to read at night.
The weather is about the same today with the bright sunshine. It is suppose to warm to 70 degrees today but so far not too warm. Since we have been here it has been in between 60 and 70 degrees but with a bit of wind it doesn't feel that warm. About 2:00pm it gets very nice and by 4:00pm it is cooling enough for a jacket. Guess for January those temperatures aren't bad.
Monday night when we went to Appleby's for dinner, we saw pictures that were part of the decor, that Yuma High School's mascot is a criminal.We both laughed about the fact they were called The Yuma Criminals. I was reading in the local paper this morning that they adopted this name in 1914 when the high school classes were held at the abandoned Yuma Territorial Prison. They later built the new school but retained the mascot. In the article it also said CBS found it intriguing enough that Julie Chen came to Yuma in 2006 to do a story as part of the show's 'Tour My Town' series. The mascot is decked out in blue and white prison stripes. Just thought this is rather interesting as I'm sure it's the only school with such an unusual mascot.
Mario, Pete's brother called Larry today to say he got the deer salami and wanted to know for sure how much Larry wanted of it. Larry told him whatever Leslie and Pete wanted plus some for sister Carol. Mario was going to cut it into smaller rolls and wrap it for freezing. Pete is in Seattle this week and Leslie was planning on going out to Mario's house after work to help him wrap the salami. I sent her a text message and told her to stop by our house and take the food sealer with her to use for salami. She called later and said her and Ava(the dog) went to our house and Ava got so excited when they went in and was running around looking for the cats. She saw my two wooden cats in the living room and kept trying to play with them. She's all into the cats but the cats are not that fond of her unfortunately!!! Leslie also said it was very cold at home and the wind chill was down close to zero. So as I said--not big complaints on our weather.
We scheduled a propane delivery for today so are waiting for the truck to show up. Again anything you need done is on someone else's schedule and they can never tell you a time so you can set all day waiting. The propane guy showed about 2:30. We thought we were getting really low on propane but when he filled our tank it only took 9 gallon. I think we have a 20 gallon tank so didn't use as much as we thought on our trip out. The going rate for propane is $3.99 a gallon, so like everything in the gas market not cheap!!
After the propane guy left we drove into Yuma to the mall. I looked around for awhile and then we went to Red Lobster for dinner. We had a very good meal. Larry got crab legs and I got two servings of shrimp scampi and we shared the two. Had a nice salad and vegetables. We saw they have a Sam's at the mall but when I looked online didn't see but two Costco's in Arizona--one in Tucson and one in Phoenix. Taylor and Kyle paid for a Costco membership for us for Christmas but we haven't been anyplace that has a Costco to activate. When we get to Mesa we have a Costco just down the street from the RV Resort so will use it then.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Arizona 2012 Tuesday(Jan 17)
Tuesday January 17, 2012
Decided it was time to do my laundry, so today was mostly devoted to catching up. I pretty much had a laid back afternoon and read most of the day while taking periodic breaks to change the laundry from washer to dryer. Larry worked on some items on RV to get whatever was not working--which is always numerous-- taken care of.
The weather has been a little on the cool side. Most mornings the temperature is in the mid 30's when we get up but by early afternoon recovers to around 65. I couldn't decide what I should be wearing today. I started out in long pants with a sweatshirt and changed early afternoon to capri's. At this time of the year it doesn't take long in shorts or capri's until it's cool enough to switch back to long pants. I actually changed back to pants and sweatshirt around 4:00. It was still a little warm with the sweatshirt but an hour later felt right. The sun was shinning brightly most of the day. The forecast shows about a 5 degree increase in temperature for the remaining part of week.
Around 4:00 we went over to an RV Supply and bought light bulbs, a new handle for the TV Antenna and a power tester. The lights on the inside of drivers side are not working for some reason so Larry is going to try finding the problem tomorrow. We made a trip to buy a few groceries and came home to cook dinner. This is the first home meal for us in awhile. I made several items and froze before Christmas so we had meatloaf from our freezer stash tonight. Wasn't bad but I am just very tired of my cooking as of late.
Decided it was time to do my laundry, so today was mostly devoted to catching up. I pretty much had a laid back afternoon and read most of the day while taking periodic breaks to change the laundry from washer to dryer. Larry worked on some items on RV to get whatever was not working--which is always numerous-- taken care of.
The weather has been a little on the cool side. Most mornings the temperature is in the mid 30's when we get up but by early afternoon recovers to around 65. I couldn't decide what I should be wearing today. I started out in long pants with a sweatshirt and changed early afternoon to capri's. At this time of the year it doesn't take long in shorts or capri's until it's cool enough to switch back to long pants. I actually changed back to pants and sweatshirt around 4:00. It was still a little warm with the sweatshirt but an hour later felt right. The sun was shinning brightly most of the day. The forecast shows about a 5 degree increase in temperature for the remaining part of week.
Around 4:00 we went over to an RV Supply and bought light bulbs, a new handle for the TV Antenna and a power tester. The lights on the inside of drivers side are not working for some reason so Larry is going to try finding the problem tomorrow. We made a trip to buy a few groceries and came home to cook dinner. This is the first home meal for us in awhile. I made several items and froze before Christmas so we had meatloaf from our freezer stash tonight. Wasn't bad but I am just very tired of my cooking as of late.
Arizona 2012 Monday(Jan 16)
Monday January 16, 2012
We left the Las Cruces KOA at 8:00am. We had the random 'quirky' issues with the RV -- this morning the stabilizing jacks would not totally retract which means the air bags also would not totally inflate. When leaving here last year we were unaware of this problem until we pulled out onto the road and hit a dip in the road. It felt like the bottom of the RV fell out as we hit so hard. This problem either occurs when it's been setting for awhile in the cold or possibly the jacks have a little rust from setting without use for months. Regardless, we had to stop and power down the jacks again and shut off engine for everything to reset before trying to retract again. After working with it for awhile everything reset and we left the RV Park and took RT 10 west toward Tucson.
We drove in rain and wind for about two hours but the farther south we drove the weather started clearing. I started looking for an RV Park somewhere between Tucson and Yuma so we would not have to drive as far a Yuma, which was about 515 miles from Las Cruces. Basically there is not much human life between Tucson and Yuma, just miles and miles of open land. The only places I found were about 30 miles east of Yuma so decided we were not saving much in mileage to stop at any of these RV Parks. We talked about where we wanted to call in Yuma for an RV site for tonight and decided to call Las Quintas, the place we have reservations for February. When we called they said they had a site we could have and we could decide if we wanted to start our time from tonight or just stay for a day or two. We talked about driving on to San Diego and staying somewhere there for a week before returning to Yuma. We told them at Las Quintas that we would tell them our plans tomorrow and they gave us our site number since the office will be closed when we arrive.
The weather cleared up and the sun came out. It got too warm driving so Larry opened the window on drivers side for some fresh air. We arrived in Yuma about 5:00pm and found Las Quintes RV Resort easily. We pulled into the park and found our site, stopped and unloaded the car and unhitched the car dolly from RV. Larry went back to RV and when he started to open the door it was locked. We had a set of keys in the car so I retrieved but found the key for door only unlocked one of the door locks. Well---this is interesting---who in their right mind would build a motor home requiring two different keys to unlock the locks on the SAME door!@!@??? We kept trying the key on both locks but nothing was working. The window on the drivers side was still open and we were able to slide it open farther to where we could get inside but we left home and forgot to load our latter. The distance from the ground made it impossible to get through the window. I told Larry to knock on someones door and borrow a latter but he kept trying to think of a way to get to window. He remembered the removable latter on back of RV used to access roof. He unhooked it and was able to lean it against window to climb up far enough to remove the keys from the ignition. These keys had an extra key that was for nothing other than that extra lock on the door!@! HOW STRANGE! We scored a lucky break but of course not before we saw 3 or 4 of the park residence standing outside watching the big event!! The 55 plus RV Parks are like living in a very small city as nothing happens that the entire park does not know within 15 minutes!!!
We pushed the car dolly onto the RV site. A lady that was setting outside with a group walked over and said she worked for the resort and could help guide Larry backing the RV into site. She showed us where to locate motor home on lot and Larry backed in. Her name is Cynthia and her husband is David. They are parked next to us and they were having 'happy hour' at the RV behind them so she invited us to come over when we got settled. I walked over later and she introduced me to Bruce, who is from BC Canada. I also met Joe and Cari from Canada as well. Doris, who owned the RV where everyone was gathered, is from Boise, ID. They were all very nice people. Cynthia and David are from Indiana and are permanent residence here at Las Quintas. I talked for awhile and gave my regrets about joining them as I told them we had not had dinner yet.
Larry hooked everything up and when water was hot he took a shower. We drove across the highway to Appleby's for dinner. It was packed, which is typical for a 'snowbird' city. Doesn't matter the day or hour of day every place is packed. We went into the bar and had a beer and waited for our table. They finally called us and took us to our table and we sat for 25 minutes waiting for a server to appear. We ordered our meal and another beer and sat another 25-30 minutes for our order. We asked for a couple of needed items when they brought our food but the server never appeared with them. We finished our dinner and waited forever for our server to bring check. What a ZOO--I'm not so sure our poor service was strictly because the place was busy or just that we had a poor server! Anyway our tip reflected our service!
We came back to RV and when I finished a cup of coffee, I was ready for bed. Tomorrow we need to decide if we are staying here or leaving again. I would like to call dentist and find out if she can see me before my scheduled appointment of Feb 2. If I can get an appointment soon, I'd rather stay and take a day trip to San Diego or even an overnight trip. It is only about 140 miles over to San Diego so we could make a few trips if we want but I would like to stay here since we are settled. I hate moving and reorganizing all the time---guess I'm just not a REAL RV'er as I like the secure feeling of a home base!
We left the Las Cruces KOA at 8:00am. We had the random 'quirky' issues with the RV -- this morning the stabilizing jacks would not totally retract which means the air bags also would not totally inflate. When leaving here last year we were unaware of this problem until we pulled out onto the road and hit a dip in the road. It felt like the bottom of the RV fell out as we hit so hard. This problem either occurs when it's been setting for awhile in the cold or possibly the jacks have a little rust from setting without use for months. Regardless, we had to stop and power down the jacks again and shut off engine for everything to reset before trying to retract again. After working with it for awhile everything reset and we left the RV Park and took RT 10 west toward Tucson.
We drove in rain and wind for about two hours but the farther south we drove the weather started clearing. I started looking for an RV Park somewhere between Tucson and Yuma so we would not have to drive as far a Yuma, which was about 515 miles from Las Cruces. Basically there is not much human life between Tucson and Yuma, just miles and miles of open land. The only places I found were about 30 miles east of Yuma so decided we were not saving much in mileage to stop at any of these RV Parks. We talked about where we wanted to call in Yuma for an RV site for tonight and decided to call Las Quintas, the place we have reservations for February. When we called they said they had a site we could have and we could decide if we wanted to start our time from tonight or just stay for a day or two. We talked about driving on to San Diego and staying somewhere there for a week before returning to Yuma. We told them at Las Quintas that we would tell them our plans tomorrow and they gave us our site number since the office will be closed when we arrive.
The weather cleared up and the sun came out. It got too warm driving so Larry opened the window on drivers side for some fresh air. We arrived in Yuma about 5:00pm and found Las Quintes RV Resort easily. We pulled into the park and found our site, stopped and unloaded the car and unhitched the car dolly from RV. Larry went back to RV and when he started to open the door it was locked. We had a set of keys in the car so I retrieved but found the key for door only unlocked one of the door locks. Well---this is interesting---who in their right mind would build a motor home requiring two different keys to unlock the locks on the SAME door!@!@??? We kept trying the key on both locks but nothing was working. The window on the drivers side was still open and we were able to slide it open farther to where we could get inside but we left home and forgot to load our latter. The distance from the ground made it impossible to get through the window. I told Larry to knock on someones door and borrow a latter but he kept trying to think of a way to get to window. He remembered the removable latter on back of RV used to access roof. He unhooked it and was able to lean it against window to climb up far enough to remove the keys from the ignition. These keys had an extra key that was for nothing other than that extra lock on the door!@! HOW STRANGE! We scored a lucky break but of course not before we saw 3 or 4 of the park residence standing outside watching the big event!! The 55 plus RV Parks are like living in a very small city as nothing happens that the entire park does not know within 15 minutes!!!
We pushed the car dolly onto the RV site. A lady that was setting outside with a group walked over and said she worked for the resort and could help guide Larry backing the RV into site. She showed us where to locate motor home on lot and Larry backed in. Her name is Cynthia and her husband is David. They are parked next to us and they were having 'happy hour' at the RV behind them so she invited us to come over when we got settled. I walked over later and she introduced me to Bruce, who is from BC Canada. I also met Joe and Cari from Canada as well. Doris, who owned the RV where everyone was gathered, is from Boise, ID. They were all very nice people. Cynthia and David are from Indiana and are permanent residence here at Las Quintas. I talked for awhile and gave my regrets about joining them as I told them we had not had dinner yet.
Larry hooked everything up and when water was hot he took a shower. We drove across the highway to Appleby's for dinner. It was packed, which is typical for a 'snowbird' city. Doesn't matter the day or hour of day every place is packed. We went into the bar and had a beer and waited for our table. They finally called us and took us to our table and we sat for 25 minutes waiting for a server to appear. We ordered our meal and another beer and sat another 25-30 minutes for our order. We asked for a couple of needed items when they brought our food but the server never appeared with them. We finished our dinner and waited forever for our server to bring check. What a ZOO--I'm not so sure our poor service was strictly because the place was busy or just that we had a poor server! Anyway our tip reflected our service!
We came back to RV and when I finished a cup of coffee, I was ready for bed. Tomorrow we need to decide if we are staying here or leaving again. I would like to call dentist and find out if she can see me before my scheduled appointment of Feb 2. If I can get an appointment soon, I'd rather stay and take a day trip to San Diego or even an overnight trip. It is only about 140 miles over to San Diego so we could make a few trips if we want but I would like to stay here since we are settled. I hate moving and reorganizing all the time---guess I'm just not a REAL RV'er as I like the secure feeling of a home base!
Arizona 2012 Sunday(Jan 15)
Sunday January 15, 2012
I am awake again this morning at 4:15. Guess my body does not need as much sleep as I think. I went back to bed with a horrible headache and kept telling myself to relax and finally fell asleep again but was short lived. When Larry got up a short time later, I was awake again.
The morning is beautiful again with temperature of 35 already. Must be much warmer here as I saw posting from friends on Facebook talking about the bitter cold at home. Guess coming South IS a better idea than staying in Peoria.
I have been writing my blog in a word doc on my little net book and had plans to post this morning. We have an access code to use for Internet from KOA and Larry activated last night on his laptop. This morning when I tried to log into Internet was abruptly halted because it only allows one device per access code!!! Since everything is on my hard drive will have to either ask for another code for access or copy over to laptop. What a pain in the butt! I brought a new USB flash drive with me but, of course, cannot locate it's resting spot in the RV yet. It makes me crazy when I am looking for different items and can't figure out where I put them--it's the age thing I think! Larry's memory is much worse than I as this morning he asked if I had seen Tucker and he was laying on Larry's legs. Hmmmm--can't wait to get there!! Only another four short years and I'll be old enough to be THAT crazy too!
I guess we are staying another night here in Las Cruces as we didn't take much time to rest yesterday. We debated on leaving this morning and moving on toward Arizona but I think we both need another day to kick back. I saw on Internet there is an Antique Show here today so thought we might check it out. Just another sign of getting old--in the past year I have gotten into browsing the antique shops. In years past, an antique shop depressed me. I so enjoy browsing and looking at all the things I grew up with! Too bad I didn't save, which is what everyone thinks when they see the prices on all the things from their childhood. We have been collecting milk bottles for a number of years so that is basically what we shop for. The next house we buy will need an entire room to devote to just the milk bottles. We only buy the ones of interest to us, not necessarily the ones of value so not really a big 'money' collection.
We showered and went to the Village Inn for breakfast. We ate many times at the Village Inn in Mesa and their food is always good. We talked to our waitress and she suggested we drive over to La Mesilla which she told us is just 7 or 8 miles from Las Cruces. It is an old town which use to be the capitol of the Arizona Territory and was the home of Billy the Kid. This is probably another wasted trip to a touristy area full of junk shops.
We found our way to La Mesilla and when we were coming into town it started looking familiar. By the time we reached the town plaza I knew we had been there last year. It is a quaint little place and they had vendors set up all around the plaza. There was a guy who made knives from fiber optic and flint and a lot of the knives were like one I bought from a friend at work many years ago for Larry. They were all unusual and some had cactus handles and other deer antler handles. He showed us how he carves the materials for the blades which was interesting.
We strolled through the other vendors and then through the little shops around the plaza and came up to a shop that I bought some wonderful Olive Oil last year. We went in and sampled several of the oils and bought another bottle. We talked a long time to the owner who was interesting. Last year I remember we talked a lot to his wife when we stopped. The shop is very nice and all they carry is olive oil, different flavored balsamic vinegars and several types of marinades.
We left La Mesilla and found an antique shop back in Las Cruces, which was in a class below a garage sale so we didn't spend a lot of time there. We went from there to the Antique Show that I had read about on the web. Larry bought a book which I think is on the Civil War and I just basically browsed through the dealer booths but found nothing I wanted. It was mostly dishes and jewelry which I don't get too excited about.
We went back up to the big shopping area and had soup and salad at Olive Garden since we had not eat since breakfast. After eating we made our daily run to Walmart for a few items we forgot last night and waited in line to check out for at least 30 minutes. The entire city was there buying groceries, etc.
While looking on the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce website, I did see that there was a Hot Air Balloon affair here this weekend. We knew that because as I mentioned we watched the balloon's from KOA but when I looked for it yesterday on the web I did not see it. Anyway there seems to be a lot going on around this area but I would have no desire to live here. Actually most of the Southwest would not be in the running as a place to make my home. Illinois is not the greatest but I'll take the green grass and trees over the gravel yards and dust of the Southwest.
I am awake again this morning at 4:15. Guess my body does not need as much sleep as I think. I went back to bed with a horrible headache and kept telling myself to relax and finally fell asleep again but was short lived. When Larry got up a short time later, I was awake again.
The morning is beautiful again with temperature of 35 already. Must be much warmer here as I saw posting from friends on Facebook talking about the bitter cold at home. Guess coming South IS a better idea than staying in Peoria.
I have been writing my blog in a word doc on my little net book and had plans to post this morning. We have an access code to use for Internet from KOA and Larry activated last night on his laptop. This morning when I tried to log into Internet was abruptly halted because it only allows one device per access code!!! Since everything is on my hard drive will have to either ask for another code for access or copy over to laptop. What a pain in the butt! I brought a new USB flash drive with me but, of course, cannot locate it's resting spot in the RV yet. It makes me crazy when I am looking for different items and can't figure out where I put them--it's the age thing I think! Larry's memory is much worse than I as this morning he asked if I had seen Tucker and he was laying on Larry's legs. Hmmmm--can't wait to get there!! Only another four short years and I'll be old enough to be THAT crazy too!
I guess we are staying another night here in Las Cruces as we didn't take much time to rest yesterday. We debated on leaving this morning and moving on toward Arizona but I think we both need another day to kick back. I saw on Internet there is an Antique Show here today so thought we might check it out. Just another sign of getting old--in the past year I have gotten into browsing the antique shops. In years past, an antique shop depressed me. I so enjoy browsing and looking at all the things I grew up with! Too bad I didn't save, which is what everyone thinks when they see the prices on all the things from their childhood. We have been collecting milk bottles for a number of years so that is basically what we shop for. The next house we buy will need an entire room to devote to just the milk bottles. We only buy the ones of interest to us, not necessarily the ones of value so not really a big 'money' collection.
We showered and went to the Village Inn for breakfast. We ate many times at the Village Inn in Mesa and their food is always good. We talked to our waitress and she suggested we drive over to La Mesilla which she told us is just 7 or 8 miles from Las Cruces. It is an old town which use to be the capitol of the Arizona Territory and was the home of Billy the Kid. This is probably another wasted trip to a touristy area full of junk shops.
We found our way to La Mesilla and when we were coming into town it started looking familiar. By the time we reached the town plaza I knew we had been there last year. It is a quaint little place and they had vendors set up all around the plaza. There was a guy who made knives from fiber optic and flint and a lot of the knives were like one I bought from a friend at work many years ago for Larry. They were all unusual and some had cactus handles and other deer antler handles. He showed us how he carves the materials for the blades which was interesting.
We strolled through the other vendors and then through the little shops around the plaza and came up to a shop that I bought some wonderful Olive Oil last year. We went in and sampled several of the oils and bought another bottle. We talked a long time to the owner who was interesting. Last year I remember we talked a lot to his wife when we stopped. The shop is very nice and all they carry is olive oil, different flavored balsamic vinegars and several types of marinades.
We left La Mesilla and found an antique shop back in Las Cruces, which was in a class below a garage sale so we didn't spend a lot of time there. We went from there to the Antique Show that I had read about on the web. Larry bought a book which I think is on the Civil War and I just basically browsed through the dealer booths but found nothing I wanted. It was mostly dishes and jewelry which I don't get too excited about.
We went back up to the big shopping area and had soup and salad at Olive Garden since we had not eat since breakfast. After eating we made our daily run to Walmart for a few items we forgot last night and waited in line to check out for at least 30 minutes. The entire city was there buying groceries, etc.
While looking on the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce website, I did see that there was a Hot Air Balloon affair here this weekend. We knew that because as I mentioned we watched the balloon's from KOA but when I looked for it yesterday on the web I did not see it. Anyway there seems to be a lot going on around this area but I would have no desire to live here. Actually most of the Southwest would not be in the running as a place to make my home. Illinois is not the greatest but I'll take the green grass and trees over the gravel yards and dust of the Southwest.
Arizona 2012 Saturday(Jan 14)
Saturday January 14, 2012
I woke up at 4:00am which seems to be my typical morning. Why I cannot sleep later is a mystery. I can understand the evenings I fall asleep watching TV but the times I go to bed late and I still wake up around the same time. I either lie in bed wide awake or get up and roam around. After two hours, I am ready to go back to bed but never seem to make it. By late afternoon I'm beat! Larry also woke early this morning so we are both on a crazy sleep schedule I guess.
The guy who is parked next to us came outside when Larry was hooking up the water and sewer and said he was looking for the Hot Air Balloons. They evidently were up yesterday and were to go up again today. It wasn't long until we could see several rising above the city skyline. There seemed to be a number of them. I got on the Internet to find out if there was a festival but found nothing regarding Hot Air Balloons here in Las Cruces. Albuquerque always has a huge Balloon Festival but I don't think we have been there during the festival times. The first few years Albuquerque was on our route coming South. I think we must have driven to Albuquerque and dropped down from there to Las Cruces but don't recall. Anyway the Balloons were pretty, as always, to watch.
I sat down and wrote on the blog until later in the morning when we got the water and sewer hooked up and the water heater running. I then started cleaning up the mess in the kitchen; dirty dishes from traveling without water to wash them. I took everything off counters and cleaned the winter dirt off the cabinets and walls. I cleaned the shower and the bathroom and mopped the floor in bath, kitchen and hallway. Larry worked on cleaning the closet mirrors and wiping down the wood and walls in the bedroom. He also ran the vacuum while I cleaned more in living room. It's almost like I'm home with all this cleaning routine! I'm suppose to be on vacation but as always I cannot relax until things are put in order. The motor home collects a lot of dust and crude setting for months at a time so was good to get it cleaned somewhat.
I finally got a shower and was surprised that the drain did not plug from washing my body after 3 days!I have had few times in my life that I have gone 3 days without a shower. I felt so much better after washing my hair and putting on some makeup. I dressed and we went into Las Cruces. On our way into town, the Balloons were going up again and we could see a number from our route into town.
We went to the car wash first as even though we somewhat washed it on Friday, it was full of dust and dirt from being pulled behind the RV. The wash turned out to be a very good job and made the car look so nice.
We left the car wash and drove a few blocks into a huge shopping area of town. We decided to stop at Appleby's for a late lunch/early dinner since we hadn't had a lot to eat today. I ordered the Parmesan Sirloin and Shrimp with mixed vegetables.It was the best meal I have had for a very long time! Since I am not a steak lover I was pleasantly surprised. Larry ordered the Garlic and Herb Sirloin and Shrimp and said his meal was also good.
When we left the restaurant, we drove across the street to a big shopping mall and I returned a jacket for Larry that I had bought sometime back at Ross and then I went into Marshall's as I realized when getting dressed I had only brought one long sleeve top with me. As I said, my packing lacked a lot of effort this year. As always, you can buy what you don't have and since I lost some weight, a couple of new tops were probably in order anyway.
We went back across the street and pulled into our friend 'Sam's' place -- WALMART!! Three days on the road and three trips into Walmart!! It is no surprise why the Walton Family are among the richest in the world, selling all their 'made in China-or wherever' goods! Poor Sam would not be pleased since he pledged to carry only 'Made in USA' items before he died. Anyway, our throw rugs in RV are getting pretty tacky looking so I checked out the rugs at Walmart. We ended up buying two that will work but wasn't so crazy about. I will maybe take a look tomorrow at Sears or wherever for different ones. Just didn't feel like fighting the traffic tonight to stop anywhere else. The traffic in this city can be pretty heavy at times and the roads around the shopping area were enough to make you crazy the way they are designed. It was a challenge just trying to figure out which street lead to what shopping area as they were all so sliced up and seemed to go nowhere--at least not where we wanted to go. We finished up our business at Walmart and headed back to KOA.
I woke up at 4:00am which seems to be my typical morning. Why I cannot sleep later is a mystery. I can understand the evenings I fall asleep watching TV but the times I go to bed late and I still wake up around the same time. I either lie in bed wide awake or get up and roam around. After two hours, I am ready to go back to bed but never seem to make it. By late afternoon I'm beat! Larry also woke early this morning so we are both on a crazy sleep schedule I guess.
The guy who is parked next to us came outside when Larry was hooking up the water and sewer and said he was looking for the Hot Air Balloons. They evidently were up yesterday and were to go up again today. It wasn't long until we could see several rising above the city skyline. There seemed to be a number of them. I got on the Internet to find out if there was a festival but found nothing regarding Hot Air Balloons here in Las Cruces. Albuquerque always has a huge Balloon Festival but I don't think we have been there during the festival times. The first few years Albuquerque was on our route coming South. I think we must have driven to Albuquerque and dropped down from there to Las Cruces but don't recall. Anyway the Balloons were pretty, as always, to watch.
Hot Air Balloons in Las Cruces, NM---(pictures taken from RV Park overlooking the city)
I finally got a shower and was surprised that the drain did not plug from washing my body after 3 days!I have had few times in my life that I have gone 3 days without a shower. I felt so much better after washing my hair and putting on some makeup. I dressed and we went into Las Cruces. On our way into town, the Balloons were going up again and we could see a number from our route into town.
We went to the car wash first as even though we somewhat washed it on Friday, it was full of dust and dirt from being pulled behind the RV. The wash turned out to be a very good job and made the car look so nice.
We left the car wash and drove a few blocks into a huge shopping area of town. We decided to stop at Appleby's for a late lunch/early dinner since we hadn't had a lot to eat today. I ordered the Parmesan Sirloin and Shrimp with mixed vegetables.It was the best meal I have had for a very long time! Since I am not a steak lover I was pleasantly surprised. Larry ordered the Garlic and Herb Sirloin and Shrimp and said his meal was also good.
When we left the restaurant, we drove across the street to a big shopping mall and I returned a jacket for Larry that I had bought sometime back at Ross and then I went into Marshall's as I realized when getting dressed I had only brought one long sleeve top with me. As I said, my packing lacked a lot of effort this year. As always, you can buy what you don't have and since I lost some weight, a couple of new tops were probably in order anyway.
We went back across the street and pulled into our friend 'Sam's' place -- WALMART!! Three days on the road and three trips into Walmart!! It is no surprise why the Walton Family are among the richest in the world, selling all their 'made in China-or wherever' goods! Poor Sam would not be pleased since he pledged to carry only 'Made in USA' items before he died. Anyway, our throw rugs in RV are getting pretty tacky looking so I checked out the rugs at Walmart. We ended up buying two that will work but wasn't so crazy about. I will maybe take a look tomorrow at Sears or wherever for different ones. Just didn't feel like fighting the traffic tonight to stop anywhere else. The traffic in this city can be pretty heavy at times and the roads around the shopping area were enough to make you crazy the way they are designed. It was a challenge just trying to figure out which street lead to what shopping area as they were all so sliced up and seemed to go nowhere--at least not where we wanted to go. We finished up our business at Walmart and headed back to KOA.
Arizona 2012 Wednesday(Jan 11-13)
Wednesday January 11, 2012
We have been packing up the motor home for the past two days preparing to hit the road for another winter in Arizona. The weather in Peoria is so beautiful the past few weeks that I'm asking myself why we are going South! The temperature today is to reach around 60 degrees but when listening to the forecast the past 24 hours it sounds like things are going to change in a drastic way later tonight.
I left this morning at 10:00am for my first of two appointments today. I'm wishing we could have left town this morning but need to keep these appointments and when I tried to change earlier in week, could not change to a different day.
They are forecasting 1-2 inches of snow and the temperature is suppose to drop drastically after midnight. I find the weather forecasters get a little hipped with the mention of snow and tend to exaggerate on the expected accumulations so who knows what will transpire.
I arrived home at 1:00pm and everything I heard about the weather during my running this morning is painting a pretty grim weather picture for tonight.Now they are saying possibly up to 4 inches of snow.I talked to Larry and suggested we step up our packing and leave later this afternoon. My thoughts were if we leave late, we might beat the weather and get far enough South to avoid the worst. He agreed and went over to RV Storage lot and hooked up car dolly and loaded the car. He drove the motor home back to house and we spent the next 4 hours loading the last minute items--which are numerous with personnel items, refrigerator and freezer food. It is a tremendous effort trying to plan for all the needed items. I decided this year to pack the obvious and what I don't have--Walmart does!! It is such a tiring effort hauling these items out and three months later hauling them back into house, so I cut back to the bare essentials.
I talked to Dr. Brown, our Vet, regarding Raven's 'anxiety attacks' every time we put him in the RV to leave. Each time we put him in the motor home, he becomes so evil no one--not even the other two cats--can approach him. He hiss's and growls and foams at the mouth so terribly, that it is all over everything! Dr. Brown suggested rather than trying to give him a pill as a tranquilizer, that it would be easier to give him children's liquid Benedryl about an hour before leaving. He said it should mellow him out and calm him down.At about 3:00 I tried to give him an eye dropper of Benedryl
and he went into a major meltdown the minute it hit his mouth. He ran through the house growling, hissing and yes---foaming at the mouth and it was like he was having a major fit of madness. Trying to approach him is not an option as he has clawed and bit me in the past. I stupidly though that getting it down his throat would be the worst part but after he laid claw marks on my legs getting off my lap, I soon found that getting the med's in his mouth was not the worst part. I'm standing there watching this fit of madness thinking -- and this is better in WHAT way?? I left him to his insanity thinking by the time we were ready to leave he would be mellowed out.The minute I put him in the RV he started all over again with the hissing and growling and--I'm not even sure if he did the foaming thing as no one could get close enough to him to see.
We decided at 4:15 we had the majority of needed items so we took showers and left at 5:00pm.
We drove until 8:00pm and stopped to fuel and eat at a Truck Stop near St Louis. When we left we drove another two hours until we found a Walmart about an hour east of Joplin, Mo. We parked and walked across lot to Walmart and the winds were gusty and the temperature had dropped to about 25 degrees. We came back to RV and started the generator and the furnace. The furnace made a rather funny noise for awhile before we went to bed. We turned on our electric mattress pad and about the time it heated up, the breaker kicked out. Larry tried to reset but nothing was working so decided to look at it in the morning. We went to bed around midnight.
Thursday January 12, 2012
We woke shortly after 4:00am and realized the furnace had quit running and we were freezing. We got up and could hear the wind beating at the motor home and it almost felt like we were standing outside. Larry found the service manual on the furnace and the power and was able to get it all working again. We walked across the parking lot to Steak and Shake for breakfast at 5:30 and when we walked back the wind felt even worse and it was horribly cold with about an inch of snow blowing around.
When we got back to RV we realized that something on the power source was wrong as our house batteries were being drained rather than charging. Larry went outside and found a reset button somewhere in the battery compartment so hopefully our problem will correct itself. The joys of owing a motor home are too numerous to mention. Seems nothing works right when it's hot, cold or raining! If you can find a beautiful sunny warm day to take a spin go for it!!!!
Larry called the Missouri State Police for a highway report. They said there was a terrible accident on outside of Joplin and traffic was stalled. We waited awhile and decided to try driving. The highway was iced in most places and the wind was blowing the snow like a whiteout and at times felt we were being blown off the road! It was very slow driving and we kept seeing semi's jackknifed and cars and pickups off into the median and side of road. I get very anxious driving in bad weather as we are packing a lot of weight with the RV and towing the car. It took us about two hours to drive the distance to the east side of Joplin where the traffic came to a halt. They were still working on clearing the accident site. We sat for about 30 minutes in traffic before we started moving again.
We drove until around 2:00 in the weather mess and suddenly, the sun peaked through and the roads started clearing more. The winds were still pretty gusty but it was getting better. We drove to El Reno, OK and opted for another Walmart lot for the night. When we went to bed the temperature was down to 19 degrees but without the horrible wind gusts, it felt warm compared to the rest of our day.
Friday January 13, 2012
What a change a few hours make in the weather pattern. When we got up this morning it was almost actually warm. Still in the low 20's but without the wind and no snow it looks to be a much better day.
We cannot de-winterize the RV yet so we are using bottled water for everything. This marks day two without a shower. My hair looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket--which is typical when I get out of bed most days! I heated some water and wet down my hair and washed my body. I dried my hair and when I got dressed I felt and almost looked human. This is the worst part of traveling in the winter is not having the comforts of home for a few days.
We left El Reno, OK at 6:30am and stopped in about an hour to refuel and get breakfast. After looking over the selection at the truck stop we opted to drive until we found a real breakfast menu. Basically our choices at the truck stop were fried chicken, pizza and something they called a breakfast sandwich. Looking at the sandwich I wasn't really sure what it was.I feel for the truckers as unless they carry items for their meals, it's going to be some fatty, greasy affair for food.
We got back on the road with our attention toward finding breakfast. We drove another hour or more and finally found a Denny's in Sayre, OK that looked to be an easy area to exit. We pulled in and had breakfast and when walking back to RV we noticed a truck wash across the road. It's hard to tell what color the motor home or car is with all the salt and road grime from yesterday. Larry wanted to do the honors of washing the vehicles. I told him it was too cold so I would not be helping. I'm such a B---- that way! I have been freezing to death since we left home. He pulled into the truck wash and it was basically a VERY over sized do-it-yourself car wash. He got out and sprayed everything down and it actually looked pretty good, considering the windshield and windows were so covered with dirt we couldn't see out before.
Since I stuck him with the dirty work, I guess he figured I could do the driving. I drove about three hours to Tucamcari, NM and let him take the wheel. I don't mind driving and feel confident driving this monster but I would rather set read and relax when I have a choice. He, on the other hand, enjoys driving. In that respect, we make a perfect duo.
We headed to Santa Rosa, NM where we would take RT 54S to Las Cruces, NM. Next thing I knew we were headed east on some deserted blacktop and realized we missed the turn. There was absolutely no place to turn this rig around. We kept driving and finally saw a road sign saying we were on RT 84--differently not the right direction for our destination.
We drove and drove and could still find no place big enough to turn around. Not even a side road that looked like it would hold the weight of the RV. We were well into 25 miles beyond our designated route so decided to continue driving and cut back across to catch 54S again. We drove at least 80 miles in a big 'U' to arrive in Vaughn, NM. To say this is the 'armpit of Hell' would be an understatement! We stopped at a run down dump of a gas station and bought 30 gallon of Diesel at $3.99 a gal. This was at least $.45 higher than anyplace so far. In looking around us, I was happy to get the fuel to assure myself we would not run out in this area. No one except the clerk inside the station spoke anything resembling English. We still were not sure WHERE to catch our route so talked to the clerk and she told us to continue through town and we would catch it on the other side.
We drove on into this poor,filthy, seedy little town and kept looking for our route as we exited the other side. We slowed at the only little road but it had no signs and looked like a cow path. We drove on and decided it was the only possibility so we cut thru a paved strip that was had a dipped area to the other side of pavement. Half way through the most horrible scraping sound occurred. I panicked as it sounded like we hit bottom with RV. Larry kept going and we made it to the other side and headed back to the road we passed. On this side of the pavement there was a sign indicating it was 53S. We turned onto the road and pulled over to check our damages. Lucky for us, we had only drug the extender on the bottom of the dolly hitch. No damage was visible.
We drove FOREVER on this deserted road, through a few mountains and curves and my ears were popping so I knew we were at a pretty high altitude. The roadway began to show drifts of snow from what was probably Thursday's storm and the temperature was getting colder. There was nothing but brown fields with tumbleweed and a few mountains. I prayed we would not have any driving problems as I could envision the Drug Lords coming out of the mountains as the sun began to set. This was worse than BFE!!!
We drove and drove and I tried using the navigator on my phone to find out WHERE we were and how far before we could get off this road. The navigator would just set and grind as I'm sure even the satellites were not hovering above this area! I had no Internet connection--BIG SURPRISE I'm thinking! A while later my phone rang and it was Leslie. I started talking and lost the call. I called Leslie seven(7) times before we could finish our conversation but at least I had a cell phone connection so we must be nearing civilization! We came out of this area into Las Cruces just as though we had been picked up and dropped back to earth.
We had not eaten since breakfast and it was now 8:00. The first McDonald's we saw Larry pulled in and we forced down our fast food setting at a table that had graffiti carved into the top. Again we are the only English speaking patrons in the place. The manager luckily spoke English to us but everyone else he spoke to in Spanish! Taylor, where are you when we need a translator!!! Anyway we were both so hungry all of this rolled off our back and we continued on into Las Cruces to the KOA. We have stayed here several times in the past 3 years. It is a very scenic RV Park and sets high above the city and you can see forever. We stop here each year as the weather is warm enough that we can de-winterize and take a few day of R & R before driving on to Arizona.
Las Cruces is a nice city but like all cities, it has it's 'hood' area. New Mexico must have more poverty than any other state in the US. Lesser people could not exist in the living conditions that the majority of the people live in. The houses throughout the countryside are no more shacks! They look like they would fall in on whoever opened a door! One of the requirements also, is to have at least 5 junk cars parked in the front yard. This state is just an extension of Mexico itself, regardless that it exists within the boundaries of the US.
We arrived at the KOA at about 9:00pm. We called for a reservation earlier in the day and our packet was waiting outside, since the office was closed. We found our site and pulled in, deciding to only connect our power tonight. We will finish hooking up tomorrow morning when it is warmer. It has been a VERY long day of travel. We did not plan to drive to Las Cruces today but with our misfortune of a detour through the 'blackhole of the earth', we had no options of anyplace else that we felt safe enough to stay. I think it is safe to say we drove close to 600 miles since leaving this morning. I think we will kick back for a couple of days to re coupe!
We have been packing up the motor home for the past two days preparing to hit the road for another winter in Arizona. The weather in Peoria is so beautiful the past few weeks that I'm asking myself why we are going South! The temperature today is to reach around 60 degrees but when listening to the forecast the past 24 hours it sounds like things are going to change in a drastic way later tonight.
I left this morning at 10:00am for my first of two appointments today. I'm wishing we could have left town this morning but need to keep these appointments and when I tried to change earlier in week, could not change to a different day.
They are forecasting 1-2 inches of snow and the temperature is suppose to drop drastically after midnight. I find the weather forecasters get a little hipped with the mention of snow and tend to exaggerate on the expected accumulations so who knows what will transpire.
I arrived home at 1:00pm and everything I heard about the weather during my running this morning is painting a pretty grim weather picture for tonight.Now they are saying possibly up to 4 inches of snow.I talked to Larry and suggested we step up our packing and leave later this afternoon. My thoughts were if we leave late, we might beat the weather and get far enough South to avoid the worst. He agreed and went over to RV Storage lot and hooked up car dolly and loaded the car. He drove the motor home back to house and we spent the next 4 hours loading the last minute items--which are numerous with personnel items, refrigerator and freezer food. It is a tremendous effort trying to plan for all the needed items. I decided this year to pack the obvious and what I don't have--Walmart does!! It is such a tiring effort hauling these items out and three months later hauling them back into house, so I cut back to the bare essentials.
I talked to Dr. Brown, our Vet, regarding Raven's 'anxiety attacks' every time we put him in the RV to leave. Each time we put him in the motor home, he becomes so evil no one--not even the other two cats--can approach him. He hiss's and growls and foams at the mouth so terribly, that it is all over everything! Dr. Brown suggested rather than trying to give him a pill as a tranquilizer, that it would be easier to give him children's liquid Benedryl about an hour before leaving. He said it should mellow him out and calm him down.At about 3:00 I tried to give him an eye dropper of Benedryl
and he went into a major meltdown the minute it hit his mouth. He ran through the house growling, hissing and yes---foaming at the mouth and it was like he was having a major fit of madness. Trying to approach him is not an option as he has clawed and bit me in the past. I stupidly though that getting it down his throat would be the worst part but after he laid claw marks on my legs getting off my lap, I soon found that getting the med's in his mouth was not the worst part. I'm standing there watching this fit of madness thinking -- and this is better in WHAT way?? I left him to his insanity thinking by the time we were ready to leave he would be mellowed out.The minute I put him in the RV he started all over again with the hissing and growling and--I'm not even sure if he did the foaming thing as no one could get close enough to him to see.
We decided at 4:15 we had the majority of needed items so we took showers and left at 5:00pm.
We drove until 8:00pm and stopped to fuel and eat at a Truck Stop near St Louis. When we left we drove another two hours until we found a Walmart about an hour east of Joplin, Mo. We parked and walked across lot to Walmart and the winds were gusty and the temperature had dropped to about 25 degrees. We came back to RV and started the generator and the furnace. The furnace made a rather funny noise for awhile before we went to bed. We turned on our electric mattress pad and about the time it heated up, the breaker kicked out. Larry tried to reset but nothing was working so decided to look at it in the morning. We went to bed around midnight.
Thursday January 12, 2012
We woke shortly after 4:00am and realized the furnace had quit running and we were freezing. We got up and could hear the wind beating at the motor home and it almost felt like we were standing outside. Larry found the service manual on the furnace and the power and was able to get it all working again. We walked across the parking lot to Steak and Shake for breakfast at 5:30 and when we walked back the wind felt even worse and it was horribly cold with about an inch of snow blowing around.
When we got back to RV we realized that something on the power source was wrong as our house batteries were being drained rather than charging. Larry went outside and found a reset button somewhere in the battery compartment so hopefully our problem will correct itself. The joys of owing a motor home are too numerous to mention. Seems nothing works right when it's hot, cold or raining! If you can find a beautiful sunny warm day to take a spin go for it!!!!
Larry called the Missouri State Police for a highway report. They said there was a terrible accident on outside of Joplin and traffic was stalled. We waited awhile and decided to try driving. The highway was iced in most places and the wind was blowing the snow like a whiteout and at times felt we were being blown off the road! It was very slow driving and we kept seeing semi's jackknifed and cars and pickups off into the median and side of road. I get very anxious driving in bad weather as we are packing a lot of weight with the RV and towing the car. It took us about two hours to drive the distance to the east side of Joplin where the traffic came to a halt. They were still working on clearing the accident site. We sat for about 30 minutes in traffic before we started moving again.
We drove until around 2:00 in the weather mess and suddenly, the sun peaked through and the roads started clearing more. The winds were still pretty gusty but it was getting better. We drove to El Reno, OK and opted for another Walmart lot for the night. When we went to bed the temperature was down to 19 degrees but without the horrible wind gusts, it felt warm compared to the rest of our day.
Friday January 13, 2012
What a change a few hours make in the weather pattern. When we got up this morning it was almost actually warm. Still in the low 20's but without the wind and no snow it looks to be a much better day.
We cannot de-winterize the RV yet so we are using bottled water for everything. This marks day two without a shower. My hair looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket--which is typical when I get out of bed most days! I heated some water and wet down my hair and washed my body. I dried my hair and when I got dressed I felt and almost looked human. This is the worst part of traveling in the winter is not having the comforts of home for a few days.
We left El Reno, OK at 6:30am and stopped in about an hour to refuel and get breakfast. After looking over the selection at the truck stop we opted to drive until we found a real breakfast menu. Basically our choices at the truck stop were fried chicken, pizza and something they called a breakfast sandwich. Looking at the sandwich I wasn't really sure what it was.I feel for the truckers as unless they carry items for their meals, it's going to be some fatty, greasy affair for food.
We got back on the road with our attention toward finding breakfast. We drove another hour or more and finally found a Denny's in Sayre, OK that looked to be an easy area to exit. We pulled in and had breakfast and when walking back to RV we noticed a truck wash across the road. It's hard to tell what color the motor home or car is with all the salt and road grime from yesterday. Larry wanted to do the honors of washing the vehicles. I told him it was too cold so I would not be helping. I'm such a B---- that way! I have been freezing to death since we left home. He pulled into the truck wash and it was basically a VERY over sized do-it-yourself car wash. He got out and sprayed everything down and it actually looked pretty good, considering the windshield and windows were so covered with dirt we couldn't see out before.
Since I stuck him with the dirty work, I guess he figured I could do the driving. I drove about three hours to Tucamcari, NM and let him take the wheel. I don't mind driving and feel confident driving this monster but I would rather set read and relax when I have a choice. He, on the other hand, enjoys driving. In that respect, we make a perfect duo.
We headed to Santa Rosa, NM where we would take RT 54S to Las Cruces, NM. Next thing I knew we were headed east on some deserted blacktop and realized we missed the turn. There was absolutely no place to turn this rig around. We kept driving and finally saw a road sign saying we were on RT 84--differently not the right direction for our destination.
We drove and drove and could still find no place big enough to turn around. Not even a side road that looked like it would hold the weight of the RV. We were well into 25 miles beyond our designated route so decided to continue driving and cut back across to catch 54S again. We drove at least 80 miles in a big 'U' to arrive in Vaughn, NM. To say this is the 'armpit of Hell' would be an understatement! We stopped at a run down dump of a gas station and bought 30 gallon of Diesel at $3.99 a gal. This was at least $.45 higher than anyplace so far. In looking around us, I was happy to get the fuel to assure myself we would not run out in this area. No one except the clerk inside the station spoke anything resembling English. We still were not sure WHERE to catch our route so talked to the clerk and she told us to continue through town and we would catch it on the other side.
We drove on into this poor,filthy, seedy little town and kept looking for our route as we exited the other side. We slowed at the only little road but it had no signs and looked like a cow path. We drove on and decided it was the only possibility so we cut thru a paved strip that was had a dipped area to the other side of pavement. Half way through the most horrible scraping sound occurred. I panicked as it sounded like we hit bottom with RV. Larry kept going and we made it to the other side and headed back to the road we passed. On this side of the pavement there was a sign indicating it was 53S. We turned onto the road and pulled over to check our damages. Lucky for us, we had only drug the extender on the bottom of the dolly hitch. No damage was visible.
We drove FOREVER on this deserted road, through a few mountains and curves and my ears were popping so I knew we were at a pretty high altitude. The roadway began to show drifts of snow from what was probably Thursday's storm and the temperature was getting colder. There was nothing but brown fields with tumbleweed and a few mountains. I prayed we would not have any driving problems as I could envision the Drug Lords coming out of the mountains as the sun began to set. This was worse than BFE!!!
We drove and drove and I tried using the navigator on my phone to find out WHERE we were and how far before we could get off this road. The navigator would just set and grind as I'm sure even the satellites were not hovering above this area! I had no Internet connection--BIG SURPRISE I'm thinking! A while later my phone rang and it was Leslie. I started talking and lost the call. I called Leslie seven(7) times before we could finish our conversation but at least I had a cell phone connection so we must be nearing civilization! We came out of this area into Las Cruces just as though we had been picked up and dropped back to earth.
We had not eaten since breakfast and it was now 8:00. The first McDonald's we saw Larry pulled in and we forced down our fast food setting at a table that had graffiti carved into the top. Again we are the only English speaking patrons in the place. The manager luckily spoke English to us but everyone else he spoke to in Spanish! Taylor, where are you when we need a translator!!! Anyway we were both so hungry all of this rolled off our back and we continued on into Las Cruces to the KOA. We have stayed here several times in the past 3 years. It is a very scenic RV Park and sets high above the city and you can see forever. We stop here each year as the weather is warm enough that we can de-winterize and take a few day of R & R before driving on to Arizona.
Las Cruces is a nice city but like all cities, it has it's 'hood' area. New Mexico must have more poverty than any other state in the US. Lesser people could not exist in the living conditions that the majority of the people live in. The houses throughout the countryside are no more shacks! They look like they would fall in on whoever opened a door! One of the requirements also, is to have at least 5 junk cars parked in the front yard. This state is just an extension of Mexico itself, regardless that it exists within the boundaries of the US.
We arrived at the KOA at about 9:00pm. We called for a reservation earlier in the day and our packet was waiting outside, since the office was closed. We found our site and pulled in, deciding to only connect our power tonight. We will finish hooking up tomorrow morning when it is warmer. It has been a VERY long day of travel. We did not plan to drive to Las Cruces today but with our misfortune of a detour through the 'blackhole of the earth', we had no options of anyplace else that we felt safe enough to stay. I think it is safe to say we drove close to 600 miles since leaving this morning. I think we will kick back for a couple of days to re coupe!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Fishing in Morson Ontario Canada June 2011
Saturday June 4, 2011
We left Peoria at 3:00pm Friday afternoon and drove all night. We arrived at Red Wing Resort at 8:30am Saturday morning. We waited in line at International Falls for an hour to cross the border. There were trucks pulling boats as far as the eye could see behind us waiting in line. We hauled in and unloaded all of the groceries and our other essentials, had lunch and the guys went out to fish.
Debby and I drove back into town which probably has about 300 population and picked up a few small grocery items and then stopped at the liquor store to buy vodka and rye whiskey for Kevin. We bought a 1.7 ltr of vodka for $57.00 so needless to say we will NOT be having 'cheap' drunks while here. We started back toward the lodge and had to stop on the road to let a tiny little black bear cross the road. He was so cute and chubby and he was just hauling ass across the road. Didn't see mama on either side of the road so don't know where she was. We were telling the maid here at the resort about seeing him and she said that they had 3 bear literally tear off the back wall of their garage and when they got inside they destroyed everything. She said they had to kill them to stop them from their coarse of destruction. Anne who owns the resort with her husband Mike, told us the bear and timber wolf have been terrible this year around this area. They always tell everyone here at the resort to not put out any garbage until early morning when they come around to pick up.
The owners have bird feeders out everywhere and yesterday we saw the tiniest humming bird that I have EVER seen. It was probably less than an inch long. It was feeding at the feeder and it was hard to believe it was a bird and not just a big bug!
We fished most of the day today and caught our limit during the day. We came in at 2:00 and had lunch then went back out. I think we caught 3 walleye, a perch and a northern. When we came in we fried fish and they were just absolutely WONDERFUL!!! We had rain off and on while out fishing but it wasn't too bad and would quit and then start lightly again.
Their was a perfect rainbow tonight when we were out. The end of the rainbow looked like it went right into the water. It was really beautiful. We met a guy and his wife who are both veterinarian's from Wyoming last year. I found out in talking to them last year that Terry is a brother to Bill Kreager, a guy I worked with at Cat for years. He and Julie, his wife, are here again this year and was asking us if we saw the rainbow. A lot of people return year after year on the same week but so far there is only about 4 cabins rented this week. The weather has not been good for fishing here in the weeks past so that may have something to do with why they don't have a lot of people this week.
Monday June 6, 2011
Today was absolutely beautiful. Probably reached the high 70's and the sun was out all day. Terry(the Vet) told us this morning that we would really have to work at catching fish today and he was right! We caught several small walleye but only 3 walleye big enough to keep and Kevin caught a perch again today. Larry caught a really nice walleye and Debby caught 2 medium size large enough to keep. I had a really nice walleye on my line and got it all the way to the boat and it got off. Otherwise all I caught was little buggers that did nothing but steal my bait. Pretty much the same with everyone else. We came in at 3:00 and decided to cook fish and potatoes for our lunch rather than wait till tonight as it ends up being pretty late by the time we cook after going back out in the evening. Debby and I opted to stay home tonight but the guys went out around 6:30. Tomorrow and Wed are suppose to be rainy and cooler but may be our best fishing days!
Tuesday June 7, 2011
Rainy and cold is the word this morning. Black clouds and still raining some after it rained last night. Larry and Kevin scheduled Lenny, the camp guide, to take them out for walleye and muskie. Debby and I could go for the same price but we decided having to pee in our bucket in front of Lenny was not an option. The guys left and I went up to the lodge to talk to Anne for some ideas of where Debby and I could drive to shop. She suggested Bemidgi, MN which is 135 miles. We got ready and left around 10:30am. We drove about half way and stopped in Black Duck, which is on Red Lake, to buy gas. The lady at the station told us they had horrible storms there this morning with high winds and hail. She also said that the weather forecast was for more bad storms later today.
When we left, I .took over driving and as we drove a little farther we had a deer come out to the roadside. I slowed down and gave him plenty of time to decide where he was going. Luckily, he choose the woods.
We arrived in Bemidgi at about 1:00. Anne told us how to find the Paul Bunyon Mall--please note--I am using the word MALL loosely!! The 'mall' consisted of maybe 15 stores which is 15 more than Morson has. They did have a Hersbarger's, which is part of the Bergner's group. It was basically exactly like Bergner's and we actually found several bargain's. I found Ruff Hewn Carpenter Jeans for 50% for Larry and lightweight sleep pants and a shirt for summer for lounging around the house.
Anne had said there were shops down by the waterfront also so we drove down there. The only thing we found was a boutique that was also a furniture store. The boutique had some very cute dresses that Debby and I thought would have been very nice for Leslie's wedding trip. I was thinking of buying one for her and then I ask if it could be returned and the lady said only for exchange. Oh Well----guess you just lost a sale--probably their only one for the week since we were the only people around.
We came back to mall area and stopped at Gander Mountain to buy a new real for Debby, since her's is screwed up. We found the real then ended up buying Larry and Kevin some zip-off pants. We found a couple of shirts on the clearance rack that we also bought.
We went to Penney's and I found about 7 shorts and tops for Morgan and about 4 short outfits for Addy. Everything I bought there was on sale and when they totalled it up the sales clerk informed me I saved $218.00--WOW---I only had to spend $201.00 to save that amount! Some of Morgan's will be part of her birthday gift and Morgan happens to have grown out of all her summer cloths. Addy has plenty of summer cloths, however, I enjoy buying her new things now and then.
We both called our kids while we were in Minnesota. I got to talk to Addy two times. She is so sweet when she talks on the phone. After I talked to her Taylor got on the phone and asked me if I heard what she called me. I said I didn't notice and she said Addy called me Grandma. Normally Addy calls me Mama but when I was there babysitting in May, she was calling me Grandma now and then. I love hearing her say Grandma. Morgan use to call me Mama also until she was about Addy's age. All my baby's are growing up so fast. Morgan will be 7 in July, which is so hard for me to believe. I'm looking forward to Pete and Leslie getting married and making us grandparents again. I think my wishes are probably over for Taylor and Kyle to have anymore. I feel so blessed with the two I have. There is nothing as wonderful as grandchildren!
We finished our shopping spree and headed home. We came back across the Canadian Border at Baudette and had no issues . Last year Debby and I went to Baudette and the Canadian Border Guards searched the truck from top to bottom when we came back . We stopped at the grocery store in Rainey River and picked up our sweet treats--homemade pastries. We did not get back to Red Wing until almost 9:30pm.
When we arrived back at the resort, Kevin showed us a picture of the 46 inch muskie that he caught today on their trip out with Lenny. At this time of the season, all muskie's have to be released. After the third week of June you can keep the muskie if it falls into a certain slot.
Kevin's Muskie
Ben, the resort owner's dog is a buddy to all. He has really latched onto Kevin as his best bud. He is a Polar Lab and is totally white. Anne told us he weighed 98 pounds and he is like a big teddy bear. Everyone in the resort loves him he loves all the attention he gets from everyone. Anne asked us not to feed Ben as all he does is eat. She feeds him and then he muches off all the camp guest. It is hard to say no to Ben as he is such a beautiful dog and so gentle.
Kevin and Ben playing fetch
Wednesday June 8, 2011
Well another morning like yesterday except the wind must be blowing 40 mph. We again decided it was not a day for us to fish. We gathered up our laundry and headed to Baudette to do our laundry and to look in the shops in town--which is a grand total of TWO! We bought some sweatshirts for all of us and a long sleeved shirt for each of the guys. We went to the Laundromat and did three loads of cloths and it took us probably an hour and a half to dry them. The place was a rip off as one washer did not spin the cloths out well, which meant more money to dry them. We met a guy in the Laundromat that was a hunting guide and a part time fishing guide. He has a house near Red Wing Resort. He was Canadian born in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario. He was very interesting to talk to and he gave us his card in case the guys were interested in his guide services.
We finished our laundry, refueled the truck and headed back to resort. We had to stop once again for our pastries at Rainy River. I will weight 300 lbs by the time I reach Peoria as all we do is eat wonderful food. We got home about 6:30 and Kevin was frying fish. We had dinner and sat and looked at the lake and talked about how calm the water was. It is so changeable here--this morning the whitecaps were terrible with the wind and now tonight the sun is shinning and the lake looks like glass. Much like when I lived on Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan as 15 minutes was like a whole different season with the weather.
l
Thursday June 9, 2011
When Debby and I got up the guys were already cooking breakfast. WOW that was a surprise but I'm sure the reason for that was they were wanting to get out early fishing. We gathered everything for fishing and packed lunch items so we would not have to come in for lunch. Debby and I put ham and beans in crockpot for our dinner tonight. We were out I think by 9:00 this morning fishing. We ended up catching our limit but had to work to catch them today. Larry is the hero of the day as he caught a 26" Walleye and it weighed about 6.5 lbs. It looked huge and it fought him tooth and nail getting him in the boat. We caught a lot of Walleye but threw most of them back as they were small. Debby caught two Perch today; one this afternoon and one tonight when we went back out fishing.
Larry and his 26 " Walleye
We ate lunch in the boat while fishing and didn't come in until around 3:00. When we came in we had several beer and the guys cleaned the fish while Debby and I played with Ben. Anne came out and was throwing a stick out into the lake for Ben to swim after. She kept trying to make Ben jump off the dock to fetch the stick but instead he would run back to the yard and go down the side of the dock to swim for the stick. We had such a good time watching Ben. He is just a gentle sweetie. This morning Kevin gave Ben a plate of sausage gravy, biscuits and an egg so Ben has been hanging tight with us most of the day. Larry gave him a piece of ham this afternoon when we came in and later Debby gave him a very small portion of ham from our dinner. Anne had asked us not to feed him as he is getting so fat but Ben just has the saddest eyes and has us all wrapped around his paw(??) I guess you would say. Debby went up and asked Anne if Ben could have the ham bone out of the beans and Anne asked us to wait till tomorrow morning to give it to him so we have it wrapped and waiting.
Anne trying to get Ben to jump off dock
We talked to Terry Kreager this afternoon and he told us about the black bear that visited the resort last night. He said it walked right up where they were setting outside around 9:30. He yelled at it and chased it off toward the cabins on the other side of the lodge. Anne said there are 5 guys staying in cabin 11 next to the lodge and one of them walked right up on the bear and almost filled his underwear. He was talking on the phone to his wife and he yelled so loud his wife kept yelling over the phone wanting to know if he was ok. Two of the guys in cabin 11 are big bruts and are both policemen. We were all still up but didn't hear anything other than Debby heard Ben barking.
We went back out fishing around 5:45 but only caught one walleye and a perch. Hardly worth the effort but we are trying to get enough fish to take home. Came in about 7:45pm from fishing and had our ham, beans and cornbread. They were fabulous1 If we have done nothing else this week we have had plenty of good food to eat. Most of the time I feel like my stomach is so full I can hardly breath!! Time to go home and slow down on the food before I gain another 50 lbs!!!
Friday June 10, 2011
Catch of the day at Lake of the Woods
Today is our last day at Red Wing Resort. We had a huge breakfast and headed out to Garden Island. This is where we fish most of the time and have had our best luck. Yesterday Larry caught his 26 inch Walleye just off the point of Garden Island. We were there less than 20 minutes and Debby pulled in a 26 inch Walleye. Everyone was amazed that we caught another fish of that size. Less than 10 minutes later I had a 'hit' on my line and it felt like a whale. I kept reeling it in and it was fighting pretty hard. Believe it or not Larry actually dipped it with the net without loosing it Last year he lost a huge fish I had on my line because he put the net down too soon and the fish saw it and broke the line. My Walleye was a little short of Debby's at 25 inches. So we have caught three big Walleye in almost the exact spot in two days. We all were catching Walleye today. A lot of little ones but several \'keepers'. We probably caught our 8 fish in less than an hour. We kept catching 'keepers' but kept measuring which were the largest and throwing back the smaller ones. We came in around 12:30 and took our pictures with the fish and then the guys cleaned the fish to freeze for home.
We went back out to try fishing for Northern, since we have our limit of Walleye to take home. We tried fishing near the reeds with bobbers. Larry and Debby tried casting but none of our attempts were fruitful. We came back to cabin and packed and loaded the truck and boat with everything we could do without tonight. We are ready to hit the road early tomorrow morning.
We all walked up to lodge and chatted with some of the guys that were here last year that are from near Gary, IN. We also paid our bill and made a reservation for next year starting June 2. Anne talked to Debby and I for awhile and told us she was so proud of us for the fish we caught. She is just the greatest person I have ever known. She is so jovial and makes us laugh a lot. She is diffently the 'PR' person for Red Wing.
The guys are packaging fish for the trip home. They have to be marked for taking across the border. We are having pizza tonight for dinner as we still had two frozen that we brought with us. We did very well on our food supply. Debby and I do a very good job planning our groceries. We rarely take much home.
We left Peoria at 3:00pm Friday afternoon and drove all night. We arrived at Red Wing Resort at 8:30am Saturday morning. We waited in line at International Falls for an hour to cross the border. There were trucks pulling boats as far as the eye could see behind us waiting in line. We hauled in and unloaded all of the groceries and our other essentials, had lunch and the guys went out to fish.
Debby and I drove back into town which probably has about 300 population and picked up a few small grocery items and then stopped at the liquor store to buy vodka and rye whiskey for Kevin. We bought a 1.7 ltr of vodka for $57.00 so needless to say we will NOT be having 'cheap' drunks while here. We started back toward the lodge and had to stop on the road to let a tiny little black bear cross the road. He was so cute and chubby and he was just hauling ass across the road. Didn't see mama on either side of the road so don't know where she was. We were telling the maid here at the resort about seeing him and she said that they had 3 bear literally tear off the back wall of their garage and when they got inside they destroyed everything. She said they had to kill them to stop them from their coarse of destruction. Anne who owns the resort with her husband Mike, told us the bear and timber wolf have been terrible this year around this area. They always tell everyone here at the resort to not put out any garbage until early morning when they come around to pick up.
The owners have bird feeders out everywhere and yesterday we saw the tiniest humming bird that I have EVER seen. It was probably less than an inch long. It was feeding at the feeder and it was hard to believe it was a bird and not just a big bug!
Red Wing Resort Morson, Ontario, Canada
Sunday June 5, 2011We fished most of the day today and caught our limit during the day. We came in at 2:00 and had lunch then went back out. I think we caught 3 walleye, a perch and a northern. When we came in we fried fish and they were just absolutely WONDERFUL!!! We had rain off and on while out fishing but it wasn't too bad and would quit and then start lightly again.
Their was a perfect rainbow tonight when we were out. The end of the rainbow looked like it went right into the water. It was really beautiful. We met a guy and his wife who are both veterinarian's from Wyoming last year. I found out in talking to them last year that Terry is a brother to Bill Kreager, a guy I worked with at Cat for years. He and Julie, his wife, are here again this year and was asking us if we saw the rainbow. A lot of people return year after year on the same week but so far there is only about 4 cabins rented this week. The weather has not been good for fishing here in the weeks past so that may have something to do with why they don't have a lot of people this week.
Monday June 6, 2011
Today was absolutely beautiful. Probably reached the high 70's and the sun was out all day. Terry(the Vet) told us this morning that we would really have to work at catching fish today and he was right! We caught several small walleye but only 3 walleye big enough to keep and Kevin caught a perch again today. Larry caught a really nice walleye and Debby caught 2 medium size large enough to keep. I had a really nice walleye on my line and got it all the way to the boat and it got off. Otherwise all I caught was little buggers that did nothing but steal my bait. Pretty much the same with everyone else. We came in at 3:00 and decided to cook fish and potatoes for our lunch rather than wait till tonight as it ends up being pretty late by the time we cook after going back out in the evening. Debby and I opted to stay home tonight but the guys went out around 6:30. Tomorrow and Wed are suppose to be rainy and cooler but may be our best fishing days!
Tuesday June 7, 2011
Rainy and cold is the word this morning. Black clouds and still raining some after it rained last night. Larry and Kevin scheduled Lenny, the camp guide, to take them out for walleye and muskie. Debby and I could go for the same price but we decided having to pee in our bucket in front of Lenny was not an option. The guys left and I went up to the lodge to talk to Anne for some ideas of where Debby and I could drive to shop. She suggested Bemidgi, MN which is 135 miles. We got ready and left around 10:30am. We drove about half way and stopped in Black Duck, which is on Red Lake, to buy gas. The lady at the station told us they had horrible storms there this morning with high winds and hail. She also said that the weather forecast was for more bad storms later today.
When we left, I .took over driving and as we drove a little farther we had a deer come out to the roadside. I slowed down and gave him plenty of time to decide where he was going. Luckily, he choose the woods.
We arrived in Bemidgi at about 1:00. Anne told us how to find the Paul Bunyon Mall--please note--I am using the word MALL loosely!! The 'mall' consisted of maybe 15 stores which is 15 more than Morson has. They did have a Hersbarger's, which is part of the Bergner's group. It was basically exactly like Bergner's and we actually found several bargain's. I found Ruff Hewn Carpenter Jeans for 50% for Larry and lightweight sleep pants and a shirt for summer for lounging around the house.
Anne had said there were shops down by the waterfront also so we drove down there. The only thing we found was a boutique that was also a furniture store. The boutique had some very cute dresses that Debby and I thought would have been very nice for Leslie's wedding trip. I was thinking of buying one for her and then I ask if it could be returned and the lady said only for exchange. Oh Well----guess you just lost a sale--probably their only one for the week since we were the only people around.
We came back to mall area and stopped at Gander Mountain to buy a new real for Debby, since her's is screwed up. We found the real then ended up buying Larry and Kevin some zip-off pants. We found a couple of shirts on the clearance rack that we also bought.
We went to Penney's and I found about 7 shorts and tops for Morgan and about 4 short outfits for Addy. Everything I bought there was on sale and when they totalled it up the sales clerk informed me I saved $218.00--WOW---I only had to spend $201.00 to save that amount! Some of Morgan's will be part of her birthday gift and Morgan happens to have grown out of all her summer cloths. Addy has plenty of summer cloths, however, I enjoy buying her new things now and then.
We both called our kids while we were in Minnesota. I got to talk to Addy two times. She is so sweet when she talks on the phone. After I talked to her Taylor got on the phone and asked me if I heard what she called me. I said I didn't notice and she said Addy called me Grandma. Normally Addy calls me Mama but when I was there babysitting in May, she was calling me Grandma now and then. I love hearing her say Grandma. Morgan use to call me Mama also until she was about Addy's age. All my baby's are growing up so fast. Morgan will be 7 in July, which is so hard for me to believe. I'm looking forward to Pete and Leslie getting married and making us grandparents again. I think my wishes are probably over for Taylor and Kyle to have anymore. I feel so blessed with the two I have. There is nothing as wonderful as grandchildren!
We finished our shopping spree and headed home. We came back across the Canadian Border at Baudette and had no issues . Last year Debby and I went to Baudette and the Canadian Border Guards searched the truck from top to bottom when we came back . We stopped at the grocery store in Rainey River and picked up our sweet treats--homemade pastries. We did not get back to Red Wing until almost 9:30pm.
When we arrived back at the resort, Kevin showed us a picture of the 46 inch muskie that he caught today on their trip out with Lenny. At this time of the season, all muskie's have to be released. After the third week of June you can keep the muskie if it falls into a certain slot.
Kevin's MuskieBen, the resort owner's dog is a buddy to all. He has really latched onto Kevin as his best bud. He is a Polar Lab and is totally white. Anne told us he weighed 98 pounds and he is like a big teddy bear. Everyone in the resort loves him he loves all the attention he gets from everyone. Anne asked us not to feed Ben as all he does is eat. She feeds him and then he muches off all the camp guest. It is hard to say no to Ben as he is such a beautiful dog and so gentle.
Kevin and Ben playing fetchWednesday June 8, 2011
Well another morning like yesterday except the wind must be blowing 40 mph. We again decided it was not a day for us to fish. We gathered up our laundry and headed to Baudette to do our laundry and to look in the shops in town--which is a grand total of TWO! We bought some sweatshirts for all of us and a long sleeved shirt for each of the guys. We went to the Laundromat and did three loads of cloths and it took us probably an hour and a half to dry them. The place was a rip off as one washer did not spin the cloths out well, which meant more money to dry them. We met a guy in the Laundromat that was a hunting guide and a part time fishing guide. He has a house near Red Wing Resort. He was Canadian born in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario. He was very interesting to talk to and he gave us his card in case the guys were interested in his guide services.
We finished our laundry, refueled the truck and headed back to resort. We had to stop once again for our pastries at Rainy River. I will weight 300 lbs by the time I reach Peoria as all we do is eat wonderful food. We got home about 6:30 and Kevin was frying fish. We had dinner and sat and looked at the lake and talked about how calm the water was. It is so changeable here--this morning the whitecaps were terrible with the wind and now tonight the sun is shinning and the lake looks like glass. Much like when I lived on Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan as 15 minutes was like a whole different season with the weather.
l
Thursday June 9, 2011
When Debby and I got up the guys were already cooking breakfast. WOW that was a surprise but I'm sure the reason for that was they were wanting to get out early fishing. We gathered everything for fishing and packed lunch items so we would not have to come in for lunch. Debby and I put ham and beans in crockpot for our dinner tonight. We were out I think by 9:00 this morning fishing. We ended up catching our limit but had to work to catch them today. Larry is the hero of the day as he caught a 26" Walleye and it weighed about 6.5 lbs. It looked huge and it fought him tooth and nail getting him in the boat. We caught a lot of Walleye but threw most of them back as they were small. Debby caught two Perch today; one this afternoon and one tonight when we went back out fishing.
Larry and his 26 " WalleyeWe ate lunch in the boat while fishing and didn't come in until around 3:00. When we came in we had several beer and the guys cleaned the fish while Debby and I played with Ben. Anne came out and was throwing a stick out into the lake for Ben to swim after. She kept trying to make Ben jump off the dock to fetch the stick but instead he would run back to the yard and go down the side of the dock to swim for the stick. We had such a good time watching Ben. He is just a gentle sweetie. This morning Kevin gave Ben a plate of sausage gravy, biscuits and an egg so Ben has been hanging tight with us most of the day. Larry gave him a piece of ham this afternoon when we came in and later Debby gave him a very small portion of ham from our dinner. Anne had asked us not to feed him as he is getting so fat but Ben just has the saddest eyes and has us all wrapped around his paw(??) I guess you would say. Debby went up and asked Anne if Ben could have the ham bone out of the beans and Anne asked us to wait till tomorrow morning to give it to him so we have it wrapped and waiting.
Anne trying to get Ben to jump off dockWe talked to Terry Kreager this afternoon and he told us about the black bear that visited the resort last night. He said it walked right up where they were setting outside around 9:30. He yelled at it and chased it off toward the cabins on the other side of the lodge. Anne said there are 5 guys staying in cabin 11 next to the lodge and one of them walked right up on the bear and almost filled his underwear. He was talking on the phone to his wife and he yelled so loud his wife kept yelling over the phone wanting to know if he was ok. Two of the guys in cabin 11 are big bruts and are both policemen. We were all still up but didn't hear anything other than Debby heard Ben barking.
We went back out fishing around 5:45 but only caught one walleye and a perch. Hardly worth the effort but we are trying to get enough fish to take home. Came in about 7:45pm from fishing and had our ham, beans and cornbread. They were fabulous1 If we have done nothing else this week we have had plenty of good food to eat. Most of the time I feel like my stomach is so full I can hardly breath!! Time to go home and slow down on the food before I gain another 50 lbs!!!
Friday June 10, 2011
Catch of the day at Lake of the Woods
Today is our last day at Red Wing Resort. We had a huge breakfast and headed out to Garden Island. This is where we fish most of the time and have had our best luck. Yesterday Larry caught his 26 inch Walleye just off the point of Garden Island. We were there less than 20 minutes and Debby pulled in a 26 inch Walleye. Everyone was amazed that we caught another fish of that size. Less than 10 minutes later I had a 'hit' on my line and it felt like a whale. I kept reeling it in and it was fighting pretty hard. Believe it or not Larry actually dipped it with the net without loosing it Last year he lost a huge fish I had on my line because he put the net down too soon and the fish saw it and broke the line. My Walleye was a little short of Debby's at 25 inches. So we have caught three big Walleye in almost the exact spot in two days. We all were catching Walleye today. A lot of little ones but several \'keepers'. We probably caught our 8 fish in less than an hour. We kept catching 'keepers' but kept measuring which were the largest and throwing back the smaller ones. We came in around 12:30 and took our pictures with the fish and then the guys cleaned the fish to freeze for home.
We went back out to try fishing for Northern, since we have our limit of Walleye to take home. We tried fishing near the reeds with bobbers. Larry and Debby tried casting but none of our attempts were fruitful. We came back to cabin and packed and loaded the truck and boat with everything we could do without tonight. We are ready to hit the road early tomorrow morning.
We all walked up to lodge and chatted with some of the guys that were here last year that are from near Gary, IN. We also paid our bill and made a reservation for next year starting June 2. Anne talked to Debby and I for awhile and told us she was so proud of us for the fish we caught. She is just the greatest person I have ever known. She is so jovial and makes us laugh a lot. She is diffently the 'PR' person for Red Wing.
The guys are packaging fish for the trip home. They have to be marked for taking across the border. We are having pizza tonight for dinner as we still had two frozen that we brought with us. We did very well on our food supply. Debby and I do a very good job planning our groceries. We rarely take much home.
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