"Home" again and enjoying getting back to North American food and customs. The experience of travelling in the third world, particularly Honduras was certainly a real eye opener into the poverty that exists. You can read about it, watch it on TV, but until you experience it first hand the reality really doesn't sink in. The strength of the people to survive and overcome and keep smiling is amazing. We, here in the USA and Canada, have so so very much to be thankful for! And yes, Dale and I would go back in a minute. We fell in love with the beautiful country, the friendly people and the relaxing life style. Too hot to be in a hurry so you go on "Honduran time" and enjoy each day.
On our return to Palm Springs, Joan & Paul were at the airport to greet us and get us safely home. Our travel day was not to bad, only about 12 hours, but we were travel weary and very glad to get into our own bed. After a relatively good nights sleep it was time to unpack..oh my goodness..had no idea how much "stuff" we had stuffed into our bags. I think they literally exploded when the zippers/clasps were undone. A day spent sorting, putting things away, laundry, getting groceries...and so it went.
On Monday, one of my kayak buddies (Jackie) and her husband (Jim) were passing through Palm Springs so stopped by for a visit. They are on a car trip down the west coast, across the USA, up the east coast and across Canada..will be back in BC in May!! I cooked dinner here on the bus for us and we had a wonderful evening. I know I talk a lot about food, but you'll love this menu: A choice of red or white wine; Watermelon Greek Salad, garlic/mustard crusted roasted leg of lamb, roasted white/yam potatoes, green beans,/carrots with maple syrup glaze and for dessert, chocolate fudge brownies with vanilla ice cream, followed by freshly ground Honduran coffee for those who drink coffee. Green tea for me! Now, doesn't that sound good. It was great to be back cooking with all the condiments that we take for granted and so readily available.
There is a spice they use in Honduras that is underlying in almost all the food prepartions. Haven't been able to figure out what it was but must say I didn't really care for it..sort of a cross between curry and cilantro, (and I like both), but then again, everything has a lot of MSG in it so could have been just that. Linda, on each trip from Canada/USA to Honduras, is bring more spices/condiments MSG free, to use in their restaurant. Just hard to find MSG free items in the stores there right now.
The rest of the week was a flurry of activity, getting the bus cleaned, getting some Christmas shopping done, spending a day doing some baking (gotta have homemade fruit bread for breakfast Christmas morning); visiting and reconnecting with all our friends in Two Springs.
Christmas Eve we had two couples in for a baked ham/scalloped potatoes and all the trimmings and must say the ham was spectacular in flavour. A little crowded with six of us but we managed just fine and we had a lovely evening.
After a Christmas morning of each of us being thoroughly spoiled, we were invited to an open house at 9:00 am, followed by a late delicious breakfast at another friends RV before it was time to get our offerings (brussel sprouts with a maple syrup glaze and walnuts) ready to take up to the clubhouse for Christmas dinner at 3:00 pm. There were lots of folks staying in the resort over Christmas and lots of families with visitors, so the clubhouse was pretty full. As usual, the food was plentiful and delicious and the volunteer cooks did an awesome job on the hams, turkeys, gravy and potatoes. No one went hungry that day!
At the beginning of the week we were experiencing torrential rain storms that did quite a bit of damage to some of the lots here in the park. We were fortunate to make it through unscathed, but one friend lost their retaining wall and washed a lot of the sand away, undermining the back of their lot. The amount of water that came down was astounding..a lot of roads were closed all over the city and after driving around the other day, the amount of sand that came through the washes and over the roads was unbelievable. So many people had their homes flooded and streets were impassable. Now, after several days of glorious sunshine, it is hard to believe the storm was actually here! Mother Nature is busy playing her tricks on us again.
Dale is still suffering the effects of his bad fall in Puerto Vallarta a few weeks ago. The bruising is now coming out and his left leg is bruised from mid calf all the way up his thigh and is a bright purple! He is still having difficulty with steps and says it is still very sore. Between his leg and my hip we are quite a sight! Ahhhh, the golden years!!
With the sun shining as brightly as it is and no wind today, it is time to get outside and enjoy this glorious weather. Hope this finds everyone hale and hearty and we hope you each had a wonderful, blessed Christmas. Till next time then......
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Another day with blue skies, ocean breezes,swaying palm trees and warm air. This is the life!! Our hotel is lovely and our room is very comfy. A one bedroom with kitchenette, two bathrooms, sitting and dining area, outside patio with jacuzzi tub, all overlooking the ocean and Banderleras Bay.
Arrived finally on Sunday night, after a further hour´s delay from DFW, so didn´t arrive until after 8:00 pm. Then as we exited customs, were tackled immediately by a time share salesperson. We did listen for awhile and it resulted in a free taxi ride to the hotel with our promise to visit the time share....of yes! We´ll do that when we have nothing else to do. So by the time we got to the hotel it did make for another long day of travel, however, after a good nights sleep all seemed much better.
We headed to WalMart Morning to stock up on groceries as too expensive to eat out every night or morning. Then spent the afternoon just relaxing and resting, trying to catch up from the past few days of travel. As we are both having another attack from
We are obviously being very lazy these few days.
Excuse the typing...the keyboards are set up a little different and keep hitting the wrong keys!
We are getting a complimentary breakfast this morning, compliments of the hotel
That brings you up to date. Watching the weather channel, we are definitely enjoying much better weather than most of Canada and-or the USA.
We only nine more days to enjoy this warm sunshine...reality will be much cooler!
Till next time....
Arrived finally on Sunday night, after a further hour´s delay from DFW, so didn´t arrive until after 8:00 pm. Then as we exited customs, were tackled immediately by a time share salesperson. We did listen for awhile and it resulted in a free taxi ride to the hotel with our promise to visit the time share....of yes! We´ll do that when we have nothing else to do. So by the time we got to the hotel it did make for another long day of travel, however, after a good nights sleep all seemed much better.
We headed to WalMart Morning to stock up on groceries as too expensive to eat out every night or morning. Then spent the afternoon just relaxing and resting, trying to catch up from the past few days of travel. As we are both having another attack from
We are obviously being very lazy these few days.
Excuse the typing...the keyboards are set up a little different and keep hitting the wrong keys!
We are getting a complimentary breakfast this morning, compliments of the hotel
That brings you up to date. Watching the weather channel, we are definitely enjoying much better weather than most of Canada and-or the USA.
We only nine more days to enjoy this warm sunshine...reality will be much cooler!
Till next time....
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Trujillo, Honduras, San Salvador, El Salvador to Dallas/Forth Worth..Dec 5,10
Well good folks, we have made it this far and are sitting in the airport at Dallas/Fort Worth, waiting for our flight to Puerto Vallarta (a 4 hour layover).
We left Trujillo on Thursday afternoon, travelling to La Cieba with larry and linda who stayed an additional two days, which worked out extremely good for us. otherwise, we would have had to take the local bus in la Ciebe, which could have been interesting (converted school bus!!). We left Tranquility Bay at 2;00 pm, larry had to use the internet office in town, so we didn't leave Trujillo until 3;15 pm. The roads were not improved and we hit a police roadblock. And i mean a police roadblock..about 50 officers with riot shields and backup of about another 50 army. There have been some shootings and vendettas going on and the governement is intent on stomping on it before a full blown riot happens. A little unnerving!!
A qucik stop at pizza hut. yes!!! pizza and it tasted it very good. Another quick stop that larry and linda needed to make and then to our hotel..Rainbow Village. We were there for two nights as our flight didn't leave until 0600 Saturday morning for San Salvador. We spent most of the day in town in la cieba and in the big (and only) shopping mall. Found a bank and an intermittment internet cafe..but too expensive to use it for long.
After a sleepless night, up at 3;30 a.m., to the airport at 4;30 a.m., and finally ona flight at 0600. We had to overnight in San Salvador last night and arrived without reservations, which proved to be of concern with customs even tho we told them we were en route..so we picked the name of a hotel out of the air and wrote it down.. now they were happy. We did wind up staying at a very lovely Quality inn, near the airport and they had a shuttle service which was a bonus. Finally got a good nights sleep and to the airport this a.m. for 7;00 am check in.
The downsides of today is that customs confiscated Dale's stone statue, saying it 'may' be an artificat. they will investigate and let us knpow, plus they took my safety pins and tape out of the first aid kit and a small tool kit that had a very small knife. Guess we were going to pin someone to the chair!!
This interent is acting up so will go now and try and cathc up later. All is well with us. Dale is actually reading a book and relaxing somewhat!! Still arguing with montezuma but think we are both winning the war. Weather has been mostly fantastic (except here in the airport where the outside temp is only a few degrees above freezing..we're in sandals and light clothing so sticking to warm areas).
Till next time
We left Trujillo on Thursday afternoon, travelling to La Cieba with larry and linda who stayed an additional two days, which worked out extremely good for us. otherwise, we would have had to take the local bus in la Ciebe, which could have been interesting (converted school bus!!). We left Tranquility Bay at 2;00 pm, larry had to use the internet office in town, so we didn't leave Trujillo until 3;15 pm. The roads were not improved and we hit a police roadblock. And i mean a police roadblock..about 50 officers with riot shields and backup of about another 50 army. There have been some shootings and vendettas going on and the governement is intent on stomping on it before a full blown riot happens. A little unnerving!!
A qucik stop at pizza hut. yes!!! pizza and it tasted it very good. Another quick stop that larry and linda needed to make and then to our hotel..Rainbow Village. We were there for two nights as our flight didn't leave until 0600 Saturday morning for San Salvador. We spent most of the day in town in la cieba and in the big (and only) shopping mall. Found a bank and an intermittment internet cafe..but too expensive to use it for long.
After a sleepless night, up at 3;30 a.m., to the airport at 4;30 a.m., and finally ona flight at 0600. We had to overnight in San Salvador last night and arrived without reservations, which proved to be of concern with customs even tho we told them we were en route..so we picked the name of a hotel out of the air and wrote it down.. now they were happy. We did wind up staying at a very lovely Quality inn, near the airport and they had a shuttle service which was a bonus. Finally got a good nights sleep and to the airport this a.m. for 7;00 am check in.
The downsides of today is that customs confiscated Dale's stone statue, saying it 'may' be an artificat. they will investigate and let us knpow, plus they took my safety pins and tape out of the first aid kit and a small tool kit that had a very small knife. Guess we were going to pin someone to the chair!!
This interent is acting up so will go now and try and cathc up later. All is well with us. Dale is actually reading a book and relaxing somewhat!! Still arguing with montezuma but think we are both winning the war. Weather has been mostly fantastic (except here in the airport where the outside temp is only a few degrees above freezing..we're in sandals and light clothing so sticking to warm areas).
Till next time
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Palm Springs to Trujillo, Honduras
Since internet is very spotty this will be a quick update.
We left Palm Springs via TAXI (!!!) to LAX as our plane broke down on the runway. Not a good start to a vacation. We were the fortunate ones in that our flight out of LAX was not until midnight so had sufficient time to make the 2 hour drive and still catch our flight. Many others were stuck and very unhappy.
From LAX to San Salvador was almost 5 hours and fairly uneventful except that it is almost impossible to sleep on a plane (at least for me, even after taking Gravol). The next leg was from San Salvador to Roatan, with what started out to be a 2 hour layover which stretched into 3 hours..we are now on Honduran time. Finally into La Ciebe and Larry, who was to meet us, was not around. Oh oh, now what do we do. However, after paging him and then pacing the airport, he showed up..had been shopping and picking things up for the resort. Finally at 2:30 Honduran time ( 2 hours ahead of BC/CAL time) we were on the road to Trujillo. Every 50 feet a gigantic pothole that you had to manouvre around, and every few miles a police road check! A little unnerving when you are not used to that lifestyle. Double solid centre lines are only there as a suggestion as to which side of the road you want to be on!
You are advised too NOT drive at night due to the road conditions and lots of animals on the road at night, truly the road conditions are a sight to behold. We were not sure whether we were expected to bribe the police at each checkpoint and we didn't and other than a few long delays (probably meant to unnerve us) we got through OK.
Tranquility Bay, where we are staying is absolutely gorgeous in its location, about 7 KM outside Trujillo. 5 Cabanas, two single beds and a double bed in each room, open air concept, with a step in tiled shower and washroom. Everything is stone tiles and bright cheerful colours. Our cabana (#1 only a few feet from the ocean) is yellow & orange, big ceiling fan, louvred/screened windows, nice sitting area outside overlooking the water and lots and lots and lots of gorgeous plants. Bird of paradise in abundance and all the colours so vibrant. If you google Tranquility Bay (Honduras) you can get a better idean.
Honduras is the 2nd most poverty stricken country (second only to Haiti) in Central America and Triujillo is one of the most poverty stricken cities(pop. about 42,000). Very high unemployement
and living conditions are extreme in their poverty. Roads have huge potholes in them throughout the city and nothing seems to be ever repaired. Dale compares it to what areas of Mexico would have been like 40 years ago. The town area is a mishmash of winding streets and many vendors working out of small stalls. Until you go in, you don't really know what they are selling. Other than buying fresh veg and a few souveniers, haven't spent a lot of time in the town.
The little bit of spanish I learned via CD's before coming has come in handy but thank goodness Linda us fairly proficient as we would be lost otherwise. People are very friendly and appreciate your efforts and have found them to be honest in their transactions despite knowing they could take advantage of you.
I'm going to sign off now as the interest is starting to act up. Will try and do more later..just wanted to let everyone know we are here, safe and sound and soaking up the 80 degree ocean and 85 degree or so temperatures...paradise!!!
We left Palm Springs via TAXI (!!!) to LAX as our plane broke down on the runway. Not a good start to a vacation. We were the fortunate ones in that our flight out of LAX was not until midnight so had sufficient time to make the 2 hour drive and still catch our flight. Many others were stuck and very unhappy.
From LAX to San Salvador was almost 5 hours and fairly uneventful except that it is almost impossible to sleep on a plane (at least for me, even after taking Gravol). The next leg was from San Salvador to Roatan, with what started out to be a 2 hour layover which stretched into 3 hours..we are now on Honduran time. Finally into La Ciebe and Larry, who was to meet us, was not around. Oh oh, now what do we do. However, after paging him and then pacing the airport, he showed up..had been shopping and picking things up for the resort. Finally at 2:30 Honduran time ( 2 hours ahead of BC/CAL time) we were on the road to Trujillo. Every 50 feet a gigantic pothole that you had to manouvre around, and every few miles a police road check! A little unnerving when you are not used to that lifestyle. Double solid centre lines are only there as a suggestion as to which side of the road you want to be on!
You are advised too NOT drive at night due to the road conditions and lots of animals on the road at night, truly the road conditions are a sight to behold. We were not sure whether we were expected to bribe the police at each checkpoint and we didn't and other than a few long delays (probably meant to unnerve us) we got through OK.
Tranquility Bay, where we are staying is absolutely gorgeous in its location, about 7 KM outside Trujillo. 5 Cabanas, two single beds and a double bed in each room, open air concept, with a step in tiled shower and washroom. Everything is stone tiles and bright cheerful colours. Our cabana (#1 only a few feet from the ocean) is yellow & orange, big ceiling fan, louvred/screened windows, nice sitting area outside overlooking the water and lots and lots and lots of gorgeous plants. Bird of paradise in abundance and all the colours so vibrant. If you google Tranquility Bay (Honduras) you can get a better idean.
Honduras is the 2nd most poverty stricken country (second only to Haiti) in Central America and Triujillo is one of the most poverty stricken cities(pop. about 42,000). Very high unemployement
and living conditions are extreme in their poverty. Roads have huge potholes in them throughout the city and nothing seems to be ever repaired. Dale compares it to what areas of Mexico would have been like 40 years ago. The town area is a mishmash of winding streets and many vendors working out of small stalls. Until you go in, you don't really know what they are selling. Other than buying fresh veg and a few souveniers, haven't spent a lot of time in the town.
The little bit of spanish I learned via CD's before coming has come in handy but thank goodness Linda us fairly proficient as we would be lost otherwise. People are very friendly and appreciate your efforts and have found them to be honest in their transactions despite knowing they could take advantage of you.
I'm going to sign off now as the interest is starting to act up. Will try and do more later..just wanted to let everyone know we are here, safe and sound and soaking up the 80 degree ocean and 85 degree or so temperatures...paradise!!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Palm Springs..Nov 6 - 18th, 2010
These past two weeks have gone by so quickly...not that we have been overly busy, it is just that time has a way of creeping up and then running away.
Found a lovely patio umbrella that tilts so now can sit at the table during the day; that is if we are not at the pool trying to keep cool!! Yes, the weather continues to be hot and sunny, with lovely breezes throughout the day..absolute paradise.
Dale was scrounging in the "throw out" pile and found a table heat lamp. OH NO..not dumpster diving in Palm Springs!!!! The lamp wasn't working of course, but after some tinkering and replacing a few bits and pieces, he got it up and running and it works wonderfully well. We can put it on the dining table outside and it gives us not only heat, but superb lighting when we are eating out in the evening, as well can put it by the sitting area and it radiates enough heat that it is quite comfortable. Much more fun that going out and just buying one..the price was right too!!
Over this past weekend, Del & Karen arrived..surprise!! How nice to see some family from home. They are spending the week in the resort, parked right across from us, and will leave on Saturday after we have gone, and probably head to Yuma and Phoenix. Enjoying our get togethers and catching up on what all the family have been up to. They are also avid Pickleball players and we have quite a group of players here in the park as well, so lots of good games going on morning and afternoon. I've played a few games but my foot I(dropped a jar of jam on it) is still a little swollen and quite sore so have decided to just take it easy so we can leave without any injuries.
Spending a bit of time each day whittling away our "to do" list as we get ready to head out on Friday. Have packed the suitcases, but now need to unpack and re-evaluate what it is we are taking. It appears we have way too much "stuff"; somehow have to pare it down to a manageable level. Good thing we started early, would hate to be doing this at the last minute (which is our normal usual style....).
Our dear friend, Patricia, from Maryland, arrived yesterday as well. So glad we are able to get a few visits in before we leave. She is here for seven weeks, so will also see her when we return on Dec 18th. Lots of good friends here now and it is like old home week every day!
Well folks, the pool is calling to us so must go and check out the water temperatures. Hope everyone is keeping well and enjoying the first brush of winter weather.
Till next time.......
PS read a quote that you may enjoy: "Common sense and a sense of humour are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humour is just common sense, dancing".....William James.
Found a lovely patio umbrella that tilts so now can sit at the table during the day; that is if we are not at the pool trying to keep cool!! Yes, the weather continues to be hot and sunny, with lovely breezes throughout the day..absolute paradise.
Dale was scrounging in the "throw out" pile and found a table heat lamp. OH NO..not dumpster diving in Palm Springs!!!! The lamp wasn't working of course, but after some tinkering and replacing a few bits and pieces, he got it up and running and it works wonderfully well. We can put it on the dining table outside and it gives us not only heat, but superb lighting when we are eating out in the evening, as well can put it by the sitting area and it radiates enough heat that it is quite comfortable. Much more fun that going out and just buying one..the price was right too!!
Over this past weekend, Del & Karen arrived..surprise!! How nice to see some family from home. They are spending the week in the resort, parked right across from us, and will leave on Saturday after we have gone, and probably head to Yuma and Phoenix. Enjoying our get togethers and catching up on what all the family have been up to. They are also avid Pickleball players and we have quite a group of players here in the park as well, so lots of good games going on morning and afternoon. I've played a few games but my foot I(dropped a jar of jam on it) is still a little swollen and quite sore so have decided to just take it easy so we can leave without any injuries.
Spending a bit of time each day whittling away our "to do" list as we get ready to head out on Friday. Have packed the suitcases, but now need to unpack and re-evaluate what it is we are taking. It appears we have way too much "stuff"; somehow have to pare it down to a manageable level. Good thing we started early, would hate to be doing this at the last minute (which is our normal usual style....).
Our dear friend, Patricia, from Maryland, arrived yesterday as well. So glad we are able to get a few visits in before we leave. She is here for seven weeks, so will also see her when we return on Dec 18th. Lots of good friends here now and it is like old home week every day!
Well folks, the pool is calling to us so must go and check out the water temperatures. Hope everyone is keeping well and enjoying the first brush of winter weather.
Till next time.......
PS read a quote that you may enjoy: "Common sense and a sense of humour are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humour is just common sense, dancing".....William James.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Yuma, AZ to N Palm Springs..Oct 23- Nov 5, 2010
It's been a busy couple of weeks. While in Yuma the time just flew by and we accomplished most of what we wanted to get done. Friends from Logan Lake arrived (Al & Brenda) for the winter while we were there so got a couple of nice visits in with them and then "old" neighbours from Armstrong (Lloyd & Carol) were in Yuma as well. Had been on Skype with my kissin' cousin from Lumby, Sharon Hoffman, and she had told me that Lloyd & Carol were in town and vice versa so after a couple of e-mails and phone calls we were able to get together to enjoy a nice afternoon's visit aka "happy hour"!!Nice to meet up with and enjoy the company of old friends.
The rest of the week was spent touring around, spending time at the Arizona Marketplace on Avenue 4E. Big changes there, new management, some vendors have left and set up in the old Mervyn's store on 4th or gone to the "Dog Track" so lots of markets/flea markets in which to spend a day or two.
On Friday morning, we fueled up. Diesel is wayyy more expensive here and we still got the lowest price of $2.93 gal. It was a big fill as we hadn't put on any diesel since we left San Antonio. The freeways for the most part were posted at 75 mph and in some areas at 80 mph. We set the bus on cruise at 70 mph which was fast enough for me!! Good speed means we made good time, but certainly ate up the fuel as well.
Leaving Yuma, we went north on 95 up to Quartzite to see if anything was happening there (not!). A few boondockers out in the desert and a very few vendors starting to set up but for the most part the town is very quiet. That won't last long tho' as while we were driving, we passed rig after rig, either heading for Yuma or for Quartzite. Will be a boomin' town in another couple of week.s
From Quartzite we turned west on I-10 and headed for Palm Springs. Now we are in very familiar territory. Seemed a little strange to be heading west to get to PS, instead of our usual route. Gave us some different vistas to look at as we travelled along. The drive from QZ to PS is only a couple of hours so not long before we were pulling into Two Springs Resort.
Ahhhhh...how nice to finally park on our lot and know the bus won't move for the next couple of months. Also very nice to be able to get it unloaded and remove all the treasures we had accumulated since leaving in July. We'be now been here a week and still unloading!!! The weather has been in the high 90's and if you don't get everything done before 10:00 a.m., at the latest, it is too hot to be outside after that.
I started to prune the Oleanders which had unbelievable growth over these few months. However, being so hot, and I am still suffering with the sore throat/cold that I picked up in Yuma, decided to hire the Resort staff to do the work. Well worth the few dollars and three of them did all the pruning and cleaning up in 3 hours!! The lot now looks lovely and tidy.
We have taken all our furniture out of storage and have everything set up now and it looks so nice. Just need to find a good large patio umbrella, one that can be set at different angles to block the sun. We can't sit at our dining table until after 5:00 pm as it is in the sun all day so defnitely need an umbrella.
This past week was mostly chores as per above and also meeting up with as many of our old friends who have arrived at the park. Quickly filling up with new arrivals everyday and is so nice to see everyone. This is the earliest we have been here so nice to be at the start instead of the end of the arrivals.
Now starting to focus on things we need to do to get ready for our next adventure to the Honduras and Mexico. Finally remembered to make a hotel reservation for the night before we leave the Honduras. Had forgotten our plane leaves La Cieba at 0600 and our resort is two hours from there. Need to "get into town" the day before. Have ordered Mexican Pesos for the Mexico part of the trip but unable to get Honduran Lempiras. Will have to wait until we are there and either find an ATM or find a currency exchange. Slowly getting items checked off...starting to get excited about the trip.
That's all from here...a brief update since we arrived. I'll update again just before we fly out. Hope to be able to access a computer while away to keep you updated and post pictures.
Hope everyone is well...till next time
The rest of the week was spent touring around, spending time at the Arizona Marketplace on Avenue 4E. Big changes there, new management, some vendors have left and set up in the old Mervyn's store on 4th or gone to the "Dog Track" so lots of markets/flea markets in which to spend a day or two.
On Friday morning, we fueled up. Diesel is wayyy more expensive here and we still got the lowest price of $2.93 gal. It was a big fill as we hadn't put on any diesel since we left San Antonio. The freeways for the most part were posted at 75 mph and in some areas at 80 mph. We set the bus on cruise at 70 mph which was fast enough for me!! Good speed means we made good time, but certainly ate up the fuel as well.
Leaving Yuma, we went north on 95 up to Quartzite to see if anything was happening there (not!). A few boondockers out in the desert and a very few vendors starting to set up but for the most part the town is very quiet. That won't last long tho' as while we were driving, we passed rig after rig, either heading for Yuma or for Quartzite. Will be a boomin' town in another couple of week.s
From Quartzite we turned west on I-10 and headed for Palm Springs. Now we are in very familiar territory. Seemed a little strange to be heading west to get to PS, instead of our usual route. Gave us some different vistas to look at as we travelled along. The drive from QZ to PS is only a couple of hours so not long before we were pulling into Two Springs Resort.
Ahhhhh...how nice to finally park on our lot and know the bus won't move for the next couple of months. Also very nice to be able to get it unloaded and remove all the treasures we had accumulated since leaving in July. We'be now been here a week and still unloading!!! The weather has been in the high 90's and if you don't get everything done before 10:00 a.m., at the latest, it is too hot to be outside after that.
I started to prune the Oleanders which had unbelievable growth over these few months. However, being so hot, and I am still suffering with the sore throat/cold that I picked up in Yuma, decided to hire the Resort staff to do the work. Well worth the few dollars and three of them did all the pruning and cleaning up in 3 hours!! The lot now looks lovely and tidy.
We have taken all our furniture out of storage and have everything set up now and it looks so nice. Just need to find a good large patio umbrella, one that can be set at different angles to block the sun. We can't sit at our dining table until after 5:00 pm as it is in the sun all day so defnitely need an umbrella.
This past week was mostly chores as per above and also meeting up with as many of our old friends who have arrived at the park. Quickly filling up with new arrivals everyday and is so nice to see everyone. This is the earliest we have been here so nice to be at the start instead of the end of the arrivals.
Now starting to focus on things we need to do to get ready for our next adventure to the Honduras and Mexico. Finally remembered to make a hotel reservation for the night before we leave the Honduras. Had forgotten our plane leaves La Cieba at 0600 and our resort is two hours from there. Need to "get into town" the day before. Have ordered Mexican Pesos for the Mexico part of the trip but unable to get Honduran Lempiras. Will have to wait until we are there and either find an ATM or find a currency exchange. Slowly getting items checked off...starting to get excited about the trip.
That's all from here...a brief update since we arrived. I'll update again just before we fly out. Hope to be able to access a computer while away to keep you updated and post pictures.
Hope everyone is well...till next time
Saturday, October 23, 2010
San Antonio, TX to Yuma, AZ..Oct 21-23, 2010
Whew, it has been very busy these last few days; on the road and on the go.
Dale was feeling not too badly Wednesday morning, after a good sleep in, so we decided we would continue our trek west. Took our time getting the bus ready to travel, and after fueling (found diesel at $2.859 gal at Walmart in San Antonio), were on the road by 11:45 a.m..Would like to have spent another day or two there, but with Dale not able to do much walking and stairs even more difficult, it would not be possible...this trip!
We only made one stop this whole drive day and that was to change drivers. We had switched "on the go" and I drove for just over four hours and then when we stopped, did another switch and Dale finished the days drive. We arrived in El Paso, TX around 8:30 that night, pulled into a Flying J travel stop and parked for the night. The drive through the Texas countryside was interesting. I had expected more flat land/desert scenery and instead was pleased to find the drive was through beautiful rolling hills, lots of green and bright blue Texas skies.
The next morning, Thursday, we were up a little earlier and ready to travel at 7:45 a.m., just in time to share rush hour traffic through El Paso! Dale's knees are still sore and he is still quite stiff but says driving does not cause him any problems. This day, driving through the Texas, part of New Mexico (we turned west again just south of Las Cruces, NM) and into Arizona, the scenery was ever changing.
We left the rolling hills of Texas and into the Arizona cactus country with outcroppings of huge boulders. Felt like we were coming home!!
We arrived in Yuma, AZ at 4:00 p.m., and pulled into The Palms RV Resort on Avenue 7E. This park is only three years old so quite new and very lovely. I had asked for a spot with afternoon shade as our big awning doesn't work (from the hurrican in Ontario). The first spot faced the wrong way and it turned out the sewer connection was broken (someone had run over it and not told the office). The second spot was even nicer, but again faced the wrong way. Finally, third time lucky and we got parked. By then I think the office was getting tired of hearing from me.....
We are right across from the pool(s) and clubhouse; have a lovely cobblestone patio, lots of space for the car, lots of "green" space between us and the next lot and every luxury we would ever need close to hand. The bonus being they have a special on right now which we are taking advantage of. We got the week for $100.00 whereas they usually charge around $50-$60 a night!!
BBQ'd a steak, shared a small potatoe, mixed grilled peppers and a salad for dinner and enjoyed sitting outside until well after dark. No mosquitoes so very pleasant and then to bed for a good nights sleep. While the Marine Corps Air Base is only a few miles down the road, if any planes were flying we never heard a sound.
Today, Saturday, Dale went off in the morning to get the car washed while I started my hobby (laundry) and got a few things done. Then off to town to "Yuma Palms" shopping centre to pick up a couple of things and have a bit of a drive and a look around Yuma. Now home and just relaxing for the rest of the day/evening. Now we are in Yuma, it does feel like we are almost home and are looking forward to being in Two Springs next Friday. We had planned on being there by November 5 so we will be arriving a few days earlier...will give us lots of time to get the lot in shape before we head off on our next venture.
That's it for now...hope everyone is keeping well..till next time...
Dale was feeling not too badly Wednesday morning, after a good sleep in, so we decided we would continue our trek west. Took our time getting the bus ready to travel, and after fueling (found diesel at $2.859 gal at Walmart in San Antonio), were on the road by 11:45 a.m..Would like to have spent another day or two there, but with Dale not able to do much walking and stairs even more difficult, it would not be possible...this trip!
We only made one stop this whole drive day and that was to change drivers. We had switched "on the go" and I drove for just over four hours and then when we stopped, did another switch and Dale finished the days drive. We arrived in El Paso, TX around 8:30 that night, pulled into a Flying J travel stop and parked for the night. The drive through the Texas countryside was interesting. I had expected more flat land/desert scenery and instead was pleased to find the drive was through beautiful rolling hills, lots of green and bright blue Texas skies.
The next morning, Thursday, we were up a little earlier and ready to travel at 7:45 a.m., just in time to share rush hour traffic through El Paso! Dale's knees are still sore and he is still quite stiff but says driving does not cause him any problems. This day, driving through the Texas, part of New Mexico (we turned west again just south of Las Cruces, NM) and into Arizona, the scenery was ever changing.
We left the rolling hills of Texas and into the Arizona cactus country with outcroppings of huge boulders. Felt like we were coming home!!
We arrived in Yuma, AZ at 4:00 p.m., and pulled into The Palms RV Resort on Avenue 7E. This park is only three years old so quite new and very lovely. I had asked for a spot with afternoon shade as our big awning doesn't work (from the hurrican in Ontario). The first spot faced the wrong way and it turned out the sewer connection was broken (someone had run over it and not told the office). The second spot was even nicer, but again faced the wrong way. Finally, third time lucky and we got parked. By then I think the office was getting tired of hearing from me.....
We are right across from the pool(s) and clubhouse; have a lovely cobblestone patio, lots of space for the car, lots of "green" space between us and the next lot and every luxury we would ever need close to hand. The bonus being they have a special on right now which we are taking advantage of. We got the week for $100.00 whereas they usually charge around $50-$60 a night!!
BBQ'd a steak, shared a small potatoe, mixed grilled peppers and a salad for dinner and enjoyed sitting outside until well after dark. No mosquitoes so very pleasant and then to bed for a good nights sleep. While the Marine Corps Air Base is only a few miles down the road, if any planes were flying we never heard a sound.
Today, Saturday, Dale went off in the morning to get the car washed while I started my hobby (laundry) and got a few things done. Then off to town to "Yuma Palms" shopping centre to pick up a couple of things and have a bit of a drive and a look around Yuma. Now home and just relaxing for the rest of the day/evening. Now we are in Yuma, it does feel like we are almost home and are looking forward to being in Two Springs next Friday. We had planned on being there by November 5 so we will be arriving a few days earlier...will give us lots of time to get the lot in shape before we head off on our next venture.
That's it for now...hope everyone is keeping well..till next time...
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