Mysterious Stain in RV

For months now, we have been seeing a stain on the floor of our bathroom closet. It started out as just an orange spot that looked like a result of some chemical leaking from a bottle or a container on the closet floor. We checked all the containers and assumed it was from one that we had already removed some time ago. We have watched this stain grow and grow and yesterday we discovered that it is spreading beyond the closet floor and becoming a problem for the rest of the floor in the bathroom. I took a couple shots of the situation and sent them back to our manufacturer, DRV (Doubletree RV), to see if they might have a clue. They responded this AM that they have no idea what might cause the problem. Here are the shots of this ugly, growing stain:

Our best guess at this point is that it is a result of water under the linoleum that is becoming, or has become, some kind of mold. Evidently, there is some water - probably from the shower base - that is leaking under the linoleum and causing the problem. Just what we need now - a major problem with the RV. I'll do more research on the problem today.

Josie is making progress on getting a solid schedule and limiting her work locations to one. The commute to the 7th St store for two days each week is brutal, and she is trying to address that situation. We will know more in a week or so.

The World Series continues tonight with game #6 in Los Angeles. Go Astros!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Watching Thrillers

An otherwise quiet day was made exciting as a result of watching two exciting games on TV. The Seahawks pulled out a victory, 41-38, with 20 seconds to go in their game. It took a typical last minute drive engineered by Russell Wilson to make it happen - again. I still have doubts about the Seahawks' long term prospects this year as they have virtually no running game and their offensive line is terrible. They are only winning as a result of Russell Wilson's athleticism.

The second exciting game was the World Series game. I actually conceded the game to the Dodgers when they went ahead in the 7th inning, but the Astros surprised again and came back in extra innings  to win the game 13-12. They only need to win one of the final two games in LA to win the series. That is no small task, but they are on a mission.

This week, we hope to see some progress toward putting our plans in motion. We have given some guidelines for rentals to our property manager, and hope that we can see some potential property fits fairly soon. Even though we are not close to moving on anything yet, we would like to see some prospective candidates to know if we are in the ballpark for what we want to accomplish.

Tomorrow is Halloween which makes today, October 30, the 98th birthday of my late mother. Happy birthday, Nan, and God bless you...

Car Dealer Surprise

After doing a review of the paperwork of our Escape purchase, I discovered a discrepancy and went to the dealership yesterday to get it clarified. We had agreed on a trade-in value for the truck, but the amount on the contract was different. While discussing this issue with the Sales Manager and Financial Manager I discovered that the conflict was a result of the Carfax Report on the truck. The Report stated that the truck was in a wreck and was towed away in 2016 in Jackson, WY. Of course, we know that is totally false. As you remember, we were rear-ended in Jackson and only had some minor damage to the rear bumper which we had repaired here in AZ upon our return last Fall. At any rate, the folks at the dealership understood and added another $2500 in trade-in value to the truck which lowers our payment quite a bit. Carfax Report information has to be presented to any prospective purchaser of a vehicle and it can be super misleading as we discovered. The accident we were in should not even have been reported to Carfax as we drove away from the scene.

It was a quiet and peaceful day as we watched Penn State blow a victory over Ohio State in the fourth quarter. Their undefeated season went down the drain with poor play in the fourth quarter, being outscored 19-3, and lost 39-38.

The World Series game (#4) was not much better as the Astros also blew the game to the Dodgers. The Series is now tied 2-2 with game #5 being played tonight, again in Houston. So far, the matchup is terrific.

I hope today brings better luck on the football field as the Seahawks play the Houston Texans in Seattle. It's time for our favorites to win today. Go Astros and Seahawks...

Break in the Action

After a fairly hectic week, it looks like we get a bit of a reprieve today. Josie has the weekend off and will do a few things around the RV this morning while I go to a meeting at the car dealership. I discovered a potential conflict in the paperwork and want to get it clarified. I think we might plan something to do over the weekend, but for now, it is "take it easy" time.

The World Series is heating up big time now that The Houston Astros have taken a 2-1 game lead in the Series. Their play, so far, has been terrific against a very strong Dodger team. I hope it continues.

Another big action item today is to watch the college football game between undefeated, and #2 ranked Penn State, against Ohio State (#6) in Columbus. That should be a great game.

It seems like the RV park is slow to fill this season. There are still lots of spaces that are open around us. It could be that folks are waiting for the cooler days which are suppose to be here soon. Or, it could be that folks are knowledgeable about the crummy spaces that are around us. One huge difference from previous years is that we have to drive to a trash dumpster now whereas before we had one about 50 feet from our rig.

Oh. well, we can (and will) adjust to change...

Another Option

As we consider options that we might have once our house is vacated by the current tenants, we have begun looking at another attractive alternative. The consideration that has appeal to us is one that I have outlined below.

It has always been a goal of ours to be able to store our RV at the house. That is one thing that we thought we could do at the house in Glendale until it was too late. Our real estate agent blew that one as he was also under the impression that we would be able to do that. At any rate, the idea of "renting" a place with that ability has lots of appeal to us. If we could locate a home that is within easy commuting distance for Josie and has several other features that we would like, it appears that by selling the house and renting a home for the near future might work better. That way, when Patty and her family eventually move to AZ in a couple of years, we would not have the problem of selling a house. Also, as tenants, we would have the advantages that we gave our tenants with not paying for landscaping services, pool service (if there is a pool), HOA fees or even repairs. It also would give us extra time to save money for the "right" house.

Of course, the down-side would be that we would lose the tax advantages of home ownership at least for awhile.  As a viable option, we are pursuing that alternative with our property manager.

There are some potential changes at Josie's work that may also impact any decision we make. The Assistant Manager at the 19th Ave store is leaving which leaves a gap in the workforce at that location. If Josie can get full time at that location, her commute would be shorter and she could work at just the one location. We'll know more about that, probably within the next week.

Life is always full of excitement in some manner. Not all of the excitement is good, but most of it is. We look forward to these challenges...

Lease Terminated

We signed the document yesterday that officially terminates our lease with the tenants in our house on 12/31/2017. They must be totally out of the house and we have 14 days from the termination to do whatever inspections are necessary prior to releasing their security deposits.

Along with the document signing and official ending of the rental, we received notice that our mortgage payment on the house will increase by over $46 per month as a result of a shortage in the Escrow account. It seems that the insurance has increased and the taxes have increased. That was not the kind of news we wanted to receive.

Josie has her doctor appointment this morning for her annual physical exam. We expect that to go OK as there are no new problems to report. She will then go to work at the 7th St store following her appointment. I plan to take the new Escape back to the dealer when she leaves for her appointment to have the minor defect checked that I discovered the day after we took delivery.

What a great World Series game last night. The Astros won what is going to be called one of the best and classic games ever in World Series history. It was the first World Series win in the franchise history. I hope they win it all in Houston by winning the next three games. It would be similar to the accomplishment of the Cubs winning the World Series last year for the first time in about 100 years...

Quick Sale on Hitch

When I sold the last F450 a few years ago, I let it go with the fifth wheel hitch still installed in the truck bed. This time, I had the hitch removed from the truck and brought it home with the new Escape:

I placed an ad on Craigslist yesterday morning to try and sell the hitch. I had it sold with cash in hand by 7 PM last night. There is a huge market for those, and the individual that purchased it came all the way from Buckeye which is a good 35 miles from here. That added another $425 from the truck that I otherwise would have given to the next owner of the truck. They retail for about $550 new. and ours was not that old (2 years) which made for a great deal all around.

I discovered a minor flaw in our new Escape yesterday. There is a small separation of the head-liner over the driver side window. I will take the new vehicle to the nearest Ford dealer (as suggested by our dealer) this morning and have it checked to see what can be done. It should not be a major problem.

We are closing in on Halloween which means that Thanksgiving and Christmas are not far behind. The rest of the year will go super fast with all that we have to do...

Truck is Gone

I spent almost the entire day yesterday working on a replacement for our truck. The truck has been very expensive and difficult to justify keeping for the minimum use of towing our RV. We needed to get a more economical solution for a second vehicle.

I went to where we purchased the truck two years ago at Peoria Ford in Peoria. We initially worked on trying to get the monthly payment down by refinancing the truck and when that didn't work we looked at other solutions. I looked at probably a half dozen solutions, including several F150's that were attractive with the huge rebates being offered for the year end clearing of inventory. They still couldn't get to where we needed to be with our goal of cutting the costs in half, with no money down. We finally landed on the solution that gave us everything we were aiming for which was half the payment with no cash outlay. We purchased our second Ford Escape, a 2017 'new' leftover model that is better equipped than our first Escape which was purchased two years ago. We will keep both for a while until we get settled in the house again and can revisit our budget considerations and perhaps trade the first Escape on a different solution. In the meantime, we are good to go, economically, with two great commuting vehicles.

The only occasion to need our truck - or any truck - is to move our fifth wheel into storage from our space, sometime in early January. We can locate a friend - or somebody (anybody) that has a truck - to perform that one move for us.

Now, we will move on to other important issues that we need to resolve before our move. We received word from our property manager yesterday that the agreement is being written for signatures of both parties to end the lease, officially, on 12/31/2017...

Good Football Day

Yesterday was one of those very good pro football days. Most of my favorite teams won - Seahawks and  Bears to name a couple - and only the Cardinals lost.  That was a costly one with the loss of the quarterback, Carson Palmer. It will be a long season now for the Cardinals. There is a rumor floating around that Colin Kaepernick might be signed by the Cardinals to replace the injured Palmer. If that happens, I, for one, will stop watching the Cardinals entirely.

The season is almost at the halfway point and the Division races are still wide open. Go Seahawks!

Josie was able to get the laundry done during her day off and heads back to work today. She will be trying to get a feel for what action to take following our move back into the house. There will be several options for her, and she has some tough decisions to make. The Glendale store where she previously worked may not have enough business now to support her return there full time. I'm sure it will all become clear as we approach the new year.

There remains much to do to identify all the actions that will be required for our changeover in the new year. I hope we don't miss any important items that need attention between now and then...

Taking Stock

Josie's work day yesterday was more satisfying and less demanding. She was off at 2 PM as the shop still is operating on summer weekend hours. It sure beat the marathon day she spent on Friday. She is off today and goes back to work on Monday.

We are taking stock of all our current expenses and those changes that will occur after we return to the house. One thing that stands out as an excess, is the truck. I have always feared parking the truck in the driveway at the house as it is a perfect location for attracting thieves who love this kind of vehicle. Actually, living in the house removes the necessity for having the truck as long as the RV is going to be placed in storage - at least for the foreseeable future. There is no reason why we can't get along with a less expensive, more economical, second vehicle while living in the house. If that situation changes, we can just get another truck. There are other items that we hope to discard after returning to the house. We are determined to downsize everything that is not necessary so that we can be ready to move into our "final" home which is anticipated to be much smaller. We expect to be active on eBay, Craigslist and the neighborhood newsletter.

It was a joy watching the final game of the ALCS Championship last night. The Astros beat the NY Yankees, 4-0 (that is ZERO runs for the Yankees) in what was a convincing finale. The World Series is set between the Astros and the Dodgers. It should be a good one.

There is so much to do and so much to plan for at this time. We will be super busy over the next couple of months...

Marathon Day at Flower Shop

Josie's first day back to work at the flower shop was a marathon day - 9 hrs. There was a huge wedding to be done in addition to the regular orders for the day. She left home at 7:15 AM and returned home last night at almost 6:30 PM. They certainly missed her and are glad she is back. It will be interesting for her to see how things change now with the move back into our home in Glendale early next year. There are three shops that will vie for her services which is probably a good position for her. It is just one of the effects of moving back into the house.

I spent most of the day lining up activities that will need to be done to make the move go more smoothly. Starting with "mover" options for our storage unit and locating a suitable location to store our RV. There are many more little things that can fall through the cracks if we don't start now to identify them and schedule help far in advance. In some ways it will be nice to be back in the house, and other ways it will be a challenge to make it a pleasant experience.

We were happy to see the Houston Astros win last night to force a game 7 in their American League Championship Series against the Yankees. Go Astros, and win big today in  the final game of the series.

The twins' team - Waubonsie High School - lost their final game of the season last night - 20-10 - to finish out of the playoffs for the first time in the last 11 years. It was a trying season for the team and the boys will return for one final year next year. It's hard to believe that they will be Seniors next season.

That's about it for today as Josie gets ready for work again - hopefully, for a much shorter day...

Time Frame Set

We had verbal agreement yesterday from the tenants in our house and the property manager will get signatures today which will define our time frame for ending the rental. As of 12/31/2017, our house will become vacant and available to us once again.

There is so much to get done between now and the first of the new year in the way of planning for the move, logistics for separating from the Pioneer RV Park, making arrangements for the RV storage, setting move-in dates and coordinating the move from our storage unit in Glendale to the house. Let me just say that Josie is very excited about moving back into the house and she is already planning for changes to her working schedule. It is not exactly the avenue that we had planned to take, but we feel it is the best option for us at this time. The year and a half that we were gone from the house has allowed us to continue our traveling lifestyle while not impacting our investment in the house. We will continue to benefit from the home ownership while trying to get some permanent direction established for the future.

We were sorry to see the Cubs season end the way it did last night against the LA Dodgers. The Dodgers definitely have the better team this year and the Cubs can be happy that they won it all last year and don't have to carry around the tag of "perpetual losers" anymore. They'll be back again. In the meantime, we hope that the Dodgers will face off against the Houston Astros in the World Series.

Josie begins her work schedule today and will work at least 5 days each week for the foreseeable future. Lots of changes are in store for both of us, so we are anxious to get things going on the right track...

Housing Decisions

First of all, there were no more mice "captured" yesterday (yeah!) and the Cubs showed life last night by winning their first NLCS game over the Dodgers - also good news.

Our scheduled conference call with our property manager got off to a bad start. The 9 AM scheduled time for the call didn't occur as the owner somehow got his schedule mixed up and he totally missed the call which we rescheduled for 2 PM. In the meantime, we went to our storage unit and couldn't locate Josie's uniform shirts, but we did drop off the suitcase we used for Chicago and  saw some other items that we will need to bring the truck to take back to the RV site. We also stopped at the mall so that Josie could get her watch band repaired and we also got our rings cleaned. We discovered after the cleaning, and while walking out of the jewelry store, that a diamond had fallen out of her ring during the cleaning process. So, she had to leave her ring with them to get the diamond replaced.

The 2 PM conference call with our property manager was very enlightening. First of all, it turns out that our tenant does not want to buy the house as they feel they would not qualify for financing. The value of our house has increased about $30K since we purchased it over two years ago and is now worth $300K. The tenant does want an early out from the lease and we agreed to allow them to vacate the home by January 1. Rather than go through the process of listing the home, showing it to prospective buyers and paying the higher fees that we would pay by not selling to the tenant but to someone else, we are leaning toward the solution that I did not want to accept - moving back into the house ourselves. In spite of the negatives that I identified previously - no space for our RV,
parking the truck in the driveway, and other considerations - it makes better financial sense for us to go this way. It would only be temporary as Patty and her family plan to move to AZ after the boys are out of high school, so we are looking at probably two years at the outside for finally getting a home that we can use for our retirement. It also means that Josie would most likely go back to full time work at the flower shop and we would miss - this next summer, at least - a return to Jackson, WY. We are sure that that door would always remain open down the road.

So, brace yourselves for more exciting days ahead. It isn't finalized yet, but it looks like we will be leaving this awful site we are in by early January...

Got 'em

Our attack to get the mouse - or mice - that left the evidence in our RV while we were gone had a very successful day yesterday. We set out four traps in various locations in the RV and we got two mice yesterday. Both were in the same location of the bedroom closet. We don't know if there are any more, but we placed another trap in that same location this morning to see if it produces again. We'll get them all eventually. We believe that these mice are entering from the desert (rear) location of our space. It is nothing but sand, weeds and cactus and is probably also home to rattlesnakes. It is not the best location for us.

We are addressing the "home" situation this morning with an initial conference call with our property manager that we have for our Glendale home. We are going to sell the property - no later than January - and begin planning for our final residence. If the tenant is going to purchase the property, we will try to get it sold immediately. Why wait until January if they have already decided to purchase the home. We'll keep you posted on those developments. There are no immediate plans to purchase another home but it depends on input from our property manager this morning. There are lots of questions that need to be answered.

Josie got a start on her doctor visits yesterday. We stopped at the Lab in Surprise and she got her bloodwork done for her physical exam scheduled for next week. We followed that visit with a stop at the Village Inn in Surprise which has always been one of our favorite breakfast stops in the area. It is still a terrific place.

We'll have another day today of getting organized with our conference call on the house, but we also plan to visit our storage unit to get some clothes - including Josie's work uniforms - that will get us into some of our summer outfits. Things are about to get interesting now...

Back in AZ

Everything went according to schedule yesterday for our return trip to AZ. It was sad leaving after such a great week with Patty and her family. It is now time to get things going for the long winter season.

Our mail, as expected, had backed up while we were gone and it appears that all the proper transfers were made from our old site #90 to the new site #185. There were some problems in the RV that were discovered when we returned. The refrigerator was very warm and some of the contents had to be discarded to avoid any sickness from spoilage. There definitely was (is) a rodent in the RV during the week we were gone. There was a "trail" of droppings throughout the RV and we set the traps again last night with no success. It is a challenge now to see how soon we can locate this critter and rid him from our rig.

Josie had messages from the flower shop that finalize her work schedule. She will be working Mon-Wed at the 19th Ave store, and Thu-Fri at the 7th St store. Right now, it appears that her weekends will be free. This will be the first time we can remember that she has had weekends off. Of course, that changes during holiday time.

We both have to get caught up on doctor appointments and we will begin that process today. Also, we have some issues regarding the RV which I will begin working on today. The main issues are our water pressure - or the lack of it - and a leak at the outside faucet which needs to be repaired by the park staff. We are not happy with this arrangement this season and hope to do something about that before too long. In the meantime, we are committed to doing what we need to do to make this a successful season. We are off and running now for the new season...

Chicago Visit Ending

We had a low key and relaxing day for our final day visiting Patty, Mark and the boys in Naperville. We had a terrific week and time went so fast it seems like we just arrived. It was a busy and fun time and we saw some exciting football on Friday night with a very positive outcome. Patty sure keeps busy with all she does - and so does Mark - to keep up with all their activities. It is amazing that they get done all the things that they do. They are great parents to some wonderful boys!

We didn't do too much yesterday except watch some games on TV while Mark went to town to perform his coaching duties for the young Patriots team that he coaches each year. Of course, we all watched the Cubs game last night. Josie and I turned in before the end of the game and missed the ending to the second loss for the Cubs in another exciting game. There is still time for the Cubs who come home to play three games and get a chance to exercise their Wrigley Field magic to regain control of the series. We hope that the Cubs can rebound and make a great series out of the National League Championship Series.

We ended our time here last night with a nice fire in the fireplace as we watched the Cubs game and look forward to seeing everybody again next season - or sooner...

We love you guys, and thanks for a wonderful week!!

Nasty Weather Day

We had rain all day yesterday. At times, it was coming down with fierce lightening and thunder and was so heavy it flooded the streets and the pond behind Patty's house. The rain carried over to Kalamazoo, MI, where the WMU stadium (Waldo Stadium) was flooded to the extent that the Homecoming Game between WMU and Akron was postponed until today. The only time we went outside was to take a brief trip in the afternoon to Dick's Sporting Goods to get some sweatpants for the boys.

We had time - with all the nasty weather - to cook a nice, big breakfast in the morning:

We had a visit from Michael during the day which was the first time this week that we have seen him. Michael is doing well with his new job selling auto financing plans to dealerships. He has his own apartment now that he shares with friends. This photo was taken of the three boys during his visit:

Our day was pretty much taken up with watching sports. The college games were on during the day and the Cubs/Dodgers game was on in the evening. Unfortunately, the Dodgers won the opening game of the NLCS for the National League Pennant. There is a way to go yet, so there is still hope for the Cubs.

We also took this shot of Jordan who had to go to work last night. He works in the restaurant at Cress Creek Country Club on weekends:

He sure looks handsome in his work uniform. With both boys playing on the football team, it is difficult to work other opportunities for some extra cash. Brandon also works on weekends with one of the local landscaping companies that is owned by a friend.

Our final full day of our visit is today and we can't believe the week is almost over. We have had a wonderful time and are so thankful to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with everybody. Someday, we hope that we will all live close enough that we won't have to limit our visits to once a year...

Friday Night Lights

This was the day of the big game. The Waubonsie Valley Warriors would play The Naperville North Huskies (Mark's High School) in a must win game for Waubonsie. They would fail to make the playoffs for the first time in Twelve years if they were to lose. Of course, Brandon and Jordan would both suit up for Waubonsie and it was extra special for us to watch them.

Before going to the game, we had a "tailgating" party at the local Micro Brewery - Rock Bottom. It was a terrific way to start the night and to get ready for the big game. We took lots of shots during the evening, and some of them are below. Starting with the tailgating party where several couples met for drinks and some dinner. These are a few of the those:

The beers were great as we tried several different varieties of the locally made brews. The dinner was also good.

The game began at 7:30 PM and it did not disappoint. It was see-saw battle the entire game and the last three minutes of the game were about as exciting as we have ever seen. Waubonsie led with three minutes to play and Naperville North tied the game - three times in the final minutes - before Waubonsie scored a touchdown with 30 seconds remaining. Naperville North almost took it in to tie the game again before time ran out. The final score was 42-35. Below are some shots of the game and of the boys:

Brandon is #25.

 Jordan is #84.

What a night and what a game! Waubonsie is still alive to make the playoffs if they can win their final game next week.

Along with all the other fun activities we have had this week, Josie made a nice wreath for the house:

Her creative talents have surfaced again.

I also wanted to show a photos of the house and of the mums and pumpkins we purchased a few days ago:

It is raining like crazy this morning and the JV game between Waubonsie and Naperville North was postponed. So, we get to relax at home, watch some football on TV and just enjoy a quiet day inside...

Nice Anniversary Day

We are thankful that Patty made such a fuss over our anniversary yesterday. Normally, it just comes and goes without much fanfare. This year, Patty took us to the Hollywood Casino in Aurora and then to lunch at a neat place in Aurora called BallyDoyle. Here are a couple photos that we have from our excursion:

This first one is outside of the Casino:

and this one, taken of the three of us seated in the BallyDoyle Irish Pub:

Although we didn't stake ourselves to a lot of money, Patty was the big winner while Josie and I lost our stake. Maybe she will get the "itch" now to try a casino once in awhile. We had a great time and finished it off with Philly Steak sandwiches and Subs for dinner later in the evening. Patty and Josie went to Jersey Mike's to pick them up and surprised me with this beautiful package for dessert:

Everybody knows how much I love those things!

We finished the day watching the Cubs/Nationals game on TV and Josie and I went to bed before the end of the game. It was a long game and ended almost at midnight with the Cubs prevailing again and they will move on to play the LA Dodgers for the Pennant. Go Cubs!!

We were sorry that Mark had to go to Columbus, OH, last night for a business meeting this morning and had to miss all the fun at home. We're sure he was able to watch the Cubs game though, and will have a better meeting as a result of the Cubs' win...

Rain and More Rain

It wasn't suppose to rain all day, but it did. It actually rained during the makeup game between the Cubs and Washington Nationals. It didn't bother the Nationals as much though, as they won the game 5-0 to force a fifth game in D.C. tonight - winner moves on to the Pennant series. There wasn't much else to do with all the wet weather, so we enjoyed a day of mostly visiting with a little shopping in between. It was still an enjoyable day.

Today we celebrate our 46th anniversary and the plan is to do a couple of special things to celebrate. First of all, we plan to pay a visit to one of the local Casinos. We don't expect to spend a lot of time (or money) there, but who knows. Then, we will have dinner at Jersey Mike's where can get some good old fashioned Philly sandwiches. There may be some other exciting stops in between, but it looks like a fun day that is planned today. Of course, we will wind up the day watching the final game of the Division Series between the Cubs and Nationals.

As we were socked in most of the day with the rain, there were no pictures for today's entry. That should change for tomorrow.

Go Cubs!!

Pumpkins and Mums

Each year, Patty decorates her front porch with mums and pumpkins during the Halloween season. We made a visit to Johansen's Farm to select the right pumpkins and mums. They had a huge supply of each as can be seen below:

We selected two nice red mum plants and two plump pumpkins. We got them home in time before the rain started.

The heavy rain in the afternoon resulted in the Cubs playoff game being postponed until today. For sure, we will watch the game, now scheduled for later today.

Last night, we had a special dinner of shrimp foil packets which were delicious. They contain shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage. The boys love them and we can see why. They can be seen in these shots taken at dinner time:

Hmm. Delicious! Of course, you also notice how fast the twins are growing.

During the day we made a couple of other stops while getting the pumpkins and the mums, and we picked up some items that we needed, including a new pair of tennis shoes that I got at Dick's Sporting Goods.

It was a fun day #2 in Naperville...

Travel Day to Chicago

Everything went according to schedule yesterday AM and we parked at the Airport Parking lot, caught the shuttle, checked our bag, went through security and arrived at the gate in plenty time. The flight left on time, was smooth for the most part, and arrived 30 minutes early at O'Hare in Chicago. Patty was there and didn't have to wait for us and we were at her home in Naperville in no time. The boys were there for a short time before going out and we spent some time just visiting on the porch during the terrific day of warm temperatures. These shots were taken while sitting outside:

It was an afternoon of relaxation and visiting. The Cubs game was on TV in the afternoon and we watched that exciting game before dinner and the Monday Night Football game which happened to feature the Bears against the Minnesota Vikings. This shot was taken of Patty popping the cork on a bottle of wine that was enjoyed during the evening:

It was a terrific start to our visit this week. There are some fun activities planned, starting today with a visit to the Pumpkin Farm. Stay tuned for some exciting events during this fun filled week...

Off to Chicago

This will be short and sweet. We are heading out to Chicago on a 7 AM flight this morning to spend a week with Patty and her family. It comes at a great time as we are de-stressing from our trip south from Jackson, WY, and trying to accept the unfortunate changes we met at the Pioneer RV Resort. There will be some major changes over the next several months as we try to adjust from the turmoil we will face over the next several months - job concerns, living space concerns and overall well being concerns. We have worked our way through many concerns before, and we will do it again.

God bless, and we'll see you from Chicago....

Bear Spray Dilemma

First a little background info. When we sold canisters of bear spray at the visitor center in Jackson, we sold them with the stipulation that there was no refund if not used. Many tourists and vacationers purchased the spray, went on hikes, didn't use it and had the problem of disposal since they could not travel on the airlines with these canisters. So, many of those travelers dropped off the unused canisters at our visitor center and we had some (8) that we inadvertently brought home. We did not want to leave those canisters in the hot RV while we went to Chicago this week, so we figured out a way to dispose of them.

We have wanted to check out the Lake Pleasant RV Resort to see if there were any changes since we stayed there a couple years ago. There is also a resident fire station at the Resort and what better place to dispose of the bear spray canisters? We accomplished both missions yesterday and saw that our rates here at the Pioneer RV Resort are about half of what they are at Lake Pleasant. Of course, the amenities are newer and more modern and we will always have a soft spot for Lake Pleasant, but we are saving money and have better convenience to what we need here, so we will most likely stay.

I printed our boarding passes this morning for our Chicago trip tomorrow. We will get an early start tomorrow and be at the airport by around 5AM for our 7AM flight. It looks like we will get a nice week, weather wise. Of course, the forecast can change, but we look forward to a great time no matter what happens with the weather...

Flu Shots and Mouse Traps

Since Josie heard scratching noises in our closet during the night on Thursday, we picked up a couple of mouse traps yesterday and set them. While we were out getting the traps, we also got our Flu shots for 2017. So, we should be set to go on that front for the season.

So far, there has been no action on the traps. We want to try to catch whatever it is before we leave for Chicago on Monday AM. Maybe it was just a critter passing through and he will be gone now. I hope so.

We are still trying to adjust to our new space here at Pioneer. It is very disappointing to have spent two years in our other, very good space, only to have it taken from us at the last minute this season. Perhaps we will take a liking to it and all will be well again. It makes us want to take a look at selling the house and buying another one in a different area where we can have some property and also place our fifth wheel on it to be handy for trips. We are getting closer to making decisions on that house before we are faced with any major improvements.

Today will be spent mostly getting things together for our Chicago visit. We are hoping that the nice, warm weather they have been having holds through the next week...

Home A Day Early

Our decision to leave Laughlin a day early so that we could get settled into our new site at the Pioneer RV Resort was probably a good one. There was lots of mail and forms that needed to be completed and we got settled into our new space - number 185 - in a short time. Our new site is not anywhere near as nice as our old one, but we are only taking it for a partial year which is why we got assigned this smaller, bare space. The only good part about it is that it backs up to the desert and we have nobody behind us. Here are the first shots of the new space:

Right now we have no neighbors. It will fill up rapidly, I'm sure, and then there will be less room between the RV's and the space will seem a bit smaller. It is what it is, so we will make due. The park is still in a very convenient location and we are ready for the new season.

Somewhere along the line we picked up some kind of "creature" in our front closet. Josie said she heard something "scratching" all night long last night, so we will have to get out the mouse traps and set them up for battle.

We have a few days now to get ready for our trip to Chicago. We are looking forward to having that visit before we get into the full swing of the new season...

Arrival in Laughlin

It was only a 175 mile drive from Mesquite, NV, to Laughlin, NV and took less than 3 hours. The only negative part of the drive was through Las Vegas which is always a challenge. Nonetheless, we arrived early in the afternoon, set up, took showers and immediately went to The Riverside to begin checking out the casinos along the strip.

Our site is very good, and large:

and is located at the top of the hill that is the farthest point from the office and the downtown area. That meant that we had to drive our car to the Riverside parking lot to begin our casino trek.

We had moderately successful luck at the Riverside Casino, but wanted to experience the rest of the strip to discover the changes. Our next stop was at the Aquarius where we have spent many nights before. That was where I experienced better luck, but Josie never got untracked. The day was moving fast as we left the Aquarius to walk along the Riverwalk to the Edgewater and then to the Colorado Belle. We discovered many changes in the strip as we remembered from our last visit a couple years ago. It seemed like the area was more run-down than previously, and the gambling choices were not as plentiful. Add the most unpleasant swarming of bugs that we've ever seen while walking along the river and it made for a not too nice experience. We continued to the Pioneer Hotel and Casino before turning back to the Riverside.

In all, we spent the entire afternoon on our casino tour. We took some nice shots along the way including these below. The first is of Bullhead City, AZ,  across the river:

These shots were taken on our return walk to the Riverside when Josie captured the Harvest Moon over the river between palm trees:

We finished the day slightly behind where we began with our gambling stake. Neither of us has felt very lucky from the start, so we are considering an early departure to better prepare for our trip to Chicago on Monday. Also, we have some issues that we need to address with our change in site at the Pioneer RV Resort, so we may just pack it in following breakfast this morning. We are about at the end of our journey from Jackson, WY, and ready to begin a new chapter in AZ for this winter season...

Finally, Total Relief

As soon as we left the Heber City area and got onto I-15 just south of Salt Lake City yesterday, the skies opened up and all the clouds disappeared. It was a terrific trip all the way to Mesquite, NV, with not a cloud anywhere. The temperatures went from 29 when we started, to 82 by the time we checked into our space at the Casablanca RV Resort in Mesquite at 2 PM. What a relief.

The site we were assigned at the RV Park at the Casablanca was a joke. The pull-through space was about 10 feet short of what we needed to fit our rig. It also was impossible to fit our car anywhere on the site. Here is a shot of the first attempt at parking our RV:

Josie drove to the reservation desk and got assigned another site which was probably the largest site (back-in) in the RV park. It was still not long enough to fit our RV on the site, even after taking off the bicycles to gain another few feet:

That is the best we could do. The front of the truck hangs out about 3 feet, but nobody has said anything. At least we can fit the car on the wider and longer space and we will make do.

We walked to the casino from the RV park and passed through the area where they have their beautiful pool and spa area:

Along with the pool area, there is an area of timeshares on the property which helps make this a wonderful spot for vacationing in Mesquite.

Our experience at the casino was not the best although we left with almost half of our stake for the night. We will save that money for our next stop at the Riverside RV Park in Laughlin, NV, for the next two nights. We only have about 3 1/2 hours of travel to get to Laughlin, so we will take a leisurely drive today. It sure feels good to have all the lousy weather behind us now...

Can't Shake This Weather

We left Thayne, WY, at around 8:30 AM yesterday to try and outrun this awful weather. It didn't work. We spent the entire day traveling in and out of snow squalls and rain and sleet. Further, the temperature hovered around 35-40 degrees all the way to Heber City, UT. There were brief periods of sunshine, but for the most part, it remained ugly and still is ugly this morning.

Along the way, we lost the protective screen to our hot water heater compartment and the remote sensor to our weather unit which was tied to our awning post. Those were the result of my lack of diligence in making sure everything was secure enough for travel. This weather has resulted in a couple of lapses.

This shot was taken at a rest stop on I-80 just west of Evanston, WY, during one of the sun breaks:

 (Our rig and car are in the center next to the truck)

As soon as we exited I-80 to go to Heber City, the snow flurries started again. We made it to Deer Creek State Park in Heber City at 1:30 PM in a near white-out snow squall:

Eventually, it passed and we got some nice shots of the Fall colors in the surrounding hills:

Of course, another dark cloud and snow squall was seen in the not too distant hills:

Today, we will travel to Mesquite, NV, and to the Casablanca RV Park Resort and Casino. It is 29 degrees outside at the moment in Heber City which is probably a couple degrees warmer than our location here at the State Park outside of the city. Believe me, we are ready for some decent weather and a nice diversion at the casino tonight...