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Monday December 16, 2013

Christmas is coming soon!
OK, back to our life.
I am out for a bike ride this morning. I ride by the irrigation canal by the RV park.
I cannot believe there is a farm with horses within city limits!

Here is the canal I am following this morning.

I did a nice 8 KM today. Feels nice to bike ride again.

I finished my bike ride with a "tour" of the RV park. On park has fresh fruits for free.

It is actually very good lemon.

This afternoon I "pledge" the motorhome and finish the left side.

Tuesday December 17, 2013

It is very warm this morning, for Yuma, +24 C and still warming up.
I had changed the anti skid tape on one step of the motorhome, but it was not holding very well because the old tape was still on. So, I removed the old tape and replace it with the new anti skid tape. It looks very good and works very well now.

Michèle went shopping and I continue with repairs. This time it is the ladder on the back of the motorhome.
The master piece!

Tuesday is Bingo night. The moon is coming up as we walk to the rec hall.

This time again, we are only doing donation to the bingo, but we still had fun.

Wednesday December 18, 2013

We got a discount for an oil change so this morning I am heading to the place for an oil change at $19.00. It is also a tire store. The car really need new tires in the front. It turns out they have a very good sale on tires right now. So two new tires are added to the oil change. The check the air filter for the cabin and it is pretty well blocked, let's change that too! Since they will have the wheels off, I ask them to check the breaks because I feel pulsating when i break. Once everything is done, remember I came here for a $19.00 oil change, the bill is $511.00, but now the car is safer.

Wednesday afternoon is Bean Bag game.
Michèle keeping scores.

Waiting for my turn, I am not getting better as fast as I would like, but I am getting there.

Overall, a very good day.

Thursday December 19, 2013

We are busy, this morning it is shuffle board.
We had a good time and I am much better at shuffle board than Bean Bags...

After the shuffle board I phone Best Optical to see if my glasses are ready. They are!
After lunch we head to Los Algodones, Mexico to get my new pair of glasses.
Here is the place I got my glasses form.

A little story here. Nothing bad has happened. Just as we got out if the store with my glasses, a teenager said something to another one in a car. That did not go over very well. In no time the teenager is out of the car and pushing the other one. Right next to us! Michele was busy looking in her purse and did not see this happening, but I did. Not knowing how this would turn out, I told Michele "Let's cross the road and get away from here. We never felt in danger, this could have happened in the US or even in Canada, you just have to be aware of what is going on around you when you are in a new place you do not know. Two Mexicans man came out of some stores and broke the potential fight before it could start and I think they told them not to do this in front of the tourists. Again we never felt threaten in any way.

On our way home, we make a little detour to visit the "Center of the World".

A fairytale is confirming that Felicity is the "center of the world".
Click here for more information about this place.

In this pyramid is the center of the world. Behind the pyramid you can see a small chapel.

Here is the view we have for the top of the hill.
Each walls you see is made of granite and has or will have something engrave on it. The one completed are the history of the United States, the histories of the states of Arizona and California. History of the world, they are engraving the 1800s right now. Veterans of the Korean war, marines and the French Foreign Legion.
I could spend hours in this place...

Here is a sample of a wall.

It is just impressive to see...

A staircase to ...?
This particular segment of a staircase is from the Eiffel tower, it is the 12th element that was removed because it was tool old and unsafe. It was sold to the highest bidders around the world.

I will have to come back and revisit this place...

Friday December 20, 2013

This is a slow Friday, first we did some shopping and I purchased a new multi-meter, mine died a few months back, and also purchased a new full motion harm for the TV in the bedroom.
The old TV is gone...

I have to install a plank to make is sturdier to mount the new arm.

Assembly time...

And here is our 24 inch LED TV in the bedroom.

We did some reading, watch TV and some internet for the rest of the day.

Saturday December 21, 2013

In a little town close to Yuma, Somerton, they have a Tamale festival. Off we go...
As we drive there, all around us are fields and they are growing lots of good stuff in this area, from head and leaf lettuce, romaine, cotton, wheat, alfalfa and broccoli, these are the major crops.

With the sun shinning more than 339 days a year or and average of 4,018 hour in a typical year, solar power is everywhere.

Tamale festival, here we come...

The main street is closed to traffic and us, pedestrians, are kings... They have two stages and acts a performing all day long.

People and food that is all there is here... The main food is... Tamales... they have more than 40 different place where you can order Tamales. This is not free, but not that expensive either.

We picked this place for our tamales. It won a few awards...

For $6 you have a plate with two tamale, one is missing in the photo, and all the sides. It is OK, but a little blend, not our favorite.

Back from the festival, we have dinner and head for the last bingo of 2013.

It was one of those nights for me! I was not paying attention and I called my bingo a little too late and missed out on a $47 winning...

Sunday December 22, 2013

A good bike ride this morning, 9 kilometers.

This afternoon our "half" of the street is putting together paper bag lanterns. To do this, we first use a white paper bag, put some sand in it and put a small candle in it. Why do you ask? Well, the whole park does is and we end up with every street lite up with paper bag candles and it looks cool! We will light them up on Christmas Eve. They do it every year and from what we hear, it is the only park that does it.

Here we are hard at work putting sand in the bags ;-)

Once the bag has a little sand, it is moved to the next station where they put the candle in the bags.

Me and XXX not working very hard...

Here are some of the bags we have done. We have prepared more than 145 bags.

After working so hard, we have a nice 3 to ? happy hour...
Some of the people involved in the lanterns.

As it got cooler, the ladies moved under the awning with the heater and we stayed outside with the propane fire pit!

What an evening! We drank, laugh, had a good time, talked our ears off. A good evening.

Monday 23 December, 2013

One of our neighbors has a cactus and it seems to be blooming, pretty neat.

I did some biking and like Michele, reading, hot tub and TV.

Tuesday December 24, 2013

I am off for a bike ride this morning and I catch a glimpse of the truck/pump. To keep the canals from losing their integrity, they have to keep the banks at a certain level of humidity or the clay would slowly turn to sand over time.

After lunch, time to hit the hot tub, remember this hot tub is only at 99 F. You can stay for a long time in it and not feel tired.

Sunday we built the luminaria for Christmas Eve. Today at around 4 pm we all took the luminaria out and placed them on the side of the road. The whole RV park does it. We cannot wait to see this at night.

This is a Spanish tradition and it is to guide baby Jesus to your house for Christmas. For more info, click here.

Dusk comes fast here, everybody lights up the luminaria in front of their RV.

The photos do not give you the true beauty of this Luminaria.

Once it is dark, everybody walks around the park and look at decorations and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Some of the decorations.

Most bags were plain white paper bags, but some had fancy paper bags.

It was so beautiful to see the luminaries in the park. They told me this was the only RV park in Yuma that does it on every street. Some park do it, but only on a few streets.

Wednesday December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas to everyone!

We signed up for the Christmas potluck at 2 pm. The RV park supplied the ham and the turkey, the residents supplied the rest of the food. The hall was almost full.

So much food, this is the dessert tables and on the right, all the trimming to go with the ham and turkey.

We love potlucks. You have the chance to try other food or just different way of preparing the same food.

We got our food and sat down by 20 after 2 pm. Let me tell you, by 3:20 they were cleaning the tables. They did not want you to stick around and enjoy the good times with the other guest at the table. That is the only unpleasant part.

Before dinner we had the chance to skype with Jeremy, Danielle and Gabriel. They are in Alberta with Danielle's family. Form what we can see, they are having a great time.

Again, Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.
Take the time to enjoy each other's company and make great memories.

We watched our Christmas gift to each other. The final season of Breaking Bad.

Thursday December 26, 2013

Lazy day, hot tub, reading, a rough day!

We skyped with Benoit in Montréal. It was good to see both our boys and get a chance to skype with them.
Love you Jeremy and Benoit.

Darn, did a marathon of watching Breaking Bad. We are done with the series now! It was a very good finish for this TV show

Friday December 27, 2013

This morning we are at the Swap & Meet in Yuma. They do not open early and by 10:30 am most of the shops are still closed.
This is not our type of swap & meet, mostly new stuff. I did buy a replacement cap for our black water vent stack.

On the way back from the swap & meet we stop at the Lowe's to check out the propane B-B-Q. They don't have the one I want.
We did find this, this is a carpet that looks like real grass. Even three different "softness" to chose from.
If it was not that expensive, $175 for 7' X 15', I would have bought one.

It is a hot day today. I decide to repair the black water gate valve. It is in the shades, so this is a good time to do it.
After flushing the black water tank many times, it still stinks a little, but it has to be done as it is leaking black water...

At the bottom is the old valve, the red arrow is showing the cut rubber seal and below the old seal is the new valve.

The valve removed.

And the finished product. The piece of 2X4 is to support the plumbing. A few years back I had an issue with the gray water connection with the tank and this is part of the repair. It would take too long to explain the whole reason for the piece of wood.

More reading, some shopping, lots of sun, what else could we ask for!

Saturday and Sunday December 28 and 29, 2013

Saturday morning Michele is gone shopping at the Salvation Army because they are having a 50% off sale.
Me, I am off for a bike ride and when I got back I went to the hot tub. When Michele got back from shopping, she came to the hot tub too.
While in the hot tub I had a very good conversation with a farmer from southern Manitoba. We talked about the Canadian wheat Board, global warming and other subject. It was a very good conversation.

Sunday afternoon we are driving to the BLM of Imperial Dam. We want to check it out and decide if we will stop there or not in February.
It is a very windy day today, look at the palm trees.

Lot's of farming around here.

This area has a lot of date palm.

We have heard about this place and their date shakes.

Humm, they are very good.

And we continue towards Imperial Dam. After a short visit at the BLM, we decided that we will be better off to drive straight to Quartzsite and stay there for two weeks. This way we will move around less.

Right by the BLM there is a large military base, the Yuma Proving Ground.
This is where all the equipment is tested before it is used by the Army and Marines.
The proving ground was first open in 1942.

Some signs we are not used to see!

One of the gate of the proving ground, a chopper on a pedestal.

Shortly after the gate we saw this sort of mini museum with tanks and artillery guns on display.
All we can see here was tested at one time in the Yuma Proving Ground.

This M4A3 Sherman tank was used in the Second World War. The dents you see are from real bullets for the Second World War.

Just as you get to the main highway, you have two large canons. They are old Atomic Cannons from the Cold War.

We also drove by the bridge to nowhere.

Once we are back home, we got to skype with my sister Christianne.

What a Christmas week!

Monday December 30, 2013

We have lunch at the local Pizza all-you-can-eat restaurant. The Round Table, for $4.99 each all you can eat pizza and salad bar plus half of pitcher of beer, a total of $16.28. Nothing wrong with this...

Once we are back home, we head to the spa for some reading. Half an hour later we get a call from our friend Terry, she is waiting for us at the motorhome.
We rush back and spend a couple of hours with a good friend.
Thank you Terry for finding the time to visit us before you have to get back home.

Terry, I am sure our path will cross again in the future.

Tuesday December 31, 2013

New Year Eve... WOW!
Three years, six months and 5 days ago we left Cold Lake, Alberta in this adventure that is our retirement.
Boy did we covered some country, some many sights we have seen, the people we meet along the way. What an incredible trip!
We will continue in 2014...

So, what are we doing on the 31st of December?
Not much, a visit at the grocery store to get some goodies for tonight. We spend a few hours in the hot tub.
By 4:30 pm we are back in the motorhome watching the New Year Eve TV specials.

By quarter after twelve we are done and go to bed, we will watch the rest tomorrow since we are recording the shows.

From both of us...
HAPPY NEW 2014 YEAR!
May life grant you ...
12 months of love,
52 weeks of joy,
365 days of success,
8760 hours of good health,
52600 minutes of inner peace and
3153600 seconds of happiness!

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Here is a little retrospective of 2013.

January, we were in Tampa Florida. We had to get a circuit board fixed on the motorhome. Some of our friends came for a visit, Sylvie and Daniel, June and Pete, Michèle's brother Patrice and his wife Manon, even my brother Rolland and his wife Suzie came for a visit.
It was lots of fun to have them all with us for a while.

February, we went to a hockey game between the Montréal Canadians and the Panthers of Florida. I even went to the big race, the Daytona 500 race with my brother Rolland and uncle André.

March, we are starting our migration north. We spent one month in the Daytona Beach area, went to "Bike Week" again. We are starting to think about trading in our motorhome for a newer one.

April, Surprise, Sylvie and Daniel stop at our RV park for a night in Daytona Beach. Good to see them again. We also drove by North Carolina to stop at our friend's place, June and Pete. We are still looking at trading our motorhome, but finding it difficult to find the right one at the right price. I had to repair a loose mud flap. After many detour looking at motorhome, we finally entered Canada at Niagara Falls on April 25th. Our next stop was in Toronto to visit Michele's sister Odette, her daughter Onyx and son Alix.

May, we were in the Trenton area for the last few days and we heard that Pearl and Andy were in town. We met them at their daughter's place, Delima and Jay. They are very good people, we like them. While checking stuff around the motorhome I found the engine exhaust manifold to be cracked all the way around. Humm! This will cost money! We also had a water leak from behind the fridge. The ice maker line is old and brittle. We fixed the leak, but not the exhaust manifold. We also changed the flooring on the entrance steps. We camped with Delima and Jay a few times and really like the company. Jay is the manager of a mushroom farm and he gave us a private tour of the farm, WOW! We also moved this month, from Toronto to the UPS store in Trenton. At the end of the month we drove to Quebec to my brother's place and got the motorhome exhaust manifold repaired. We spent some time at Michele's brothers place. We visited my mother who is now living in a residence for people with Alzheimer. She is well looked after.

June, we are still in Québec and our young son, Benoit, came for a weekend for a visit and it was great. on June 16th we are back on the road and heading west, Saskatchewan, here we come. By June 21st we are in Moose Jaw SK. We put the motorhome in storage and take a flight to BC and babysit our grandson Gabriel while the parents are on a trip south. It was pure pleasure.

July, what fun we had with Gabriel, but we have to head back to Moose Jaw on June 18th and wait for Jeremy, Danielle and Gabriel to come to their new posting. We also changed the skylight over the shower. It was broken last year from a hail storm. Robbyn and Tim from Cold Lake also come for a visit, thanks guys for making the detour, it was good to see you both.

August, we continue with the renovations. The last sofa is out and a temporary TV stand in taking its place. Now the TV is in front of us without having to move the furniture around. A surprise visit of our friends Jody and Denis. They stopped by for a few days. Great to see you again. The campground in Moose Jaw is having problems with power. We are not impressed. We have paid for 30 amps and we get maybe 15 amps. We visited the Claybank brick plant, a great visit.

September, another friend from Cold Lake is with us for a few days, Sean came down during his days off. It was good to see you Sean. The renovation continues, a small shelf here and there, new door to cover up the opening where the TV was before. Even a new radio for the motorhome, I could not see the stations and now I can hook up my IPod of a thumb drive to the radio, this is great!

October, This time we changed the carpet in the entrance of the motorhome. Jeremy is in Moose Jaw for a few days to accept his military housing. We got to see him quite a bit, it was great. The RV park where we are in Regina is shutting down the water October 22. We moved out the 21 and it was snowing!!! We rented a room in a private house. We lived at Bonnie and Jim's house for two weeks. They are great people, we loved our time at their place. We even got to give candies during Halloween, all 12 kids who came by the door! The town of Marquis is very small!

November, Jeremy's family is finally arriving in Moose Jaw. It was good to see Danielle and Gabriel again, boy do we love them. They got here on the 3rd and the furniture did not arrive until the 7th. We still got to keep Gabriel with us every night before and during the unpacking. Michele spent a lot of time with Gabriel and I unpacked a lot of boxes with Danielle and Jeremy. November 11 is the start of our migration south. It was a nice minus 17 celsius the morning we left, darn it is cold! Our first night we spent it at a motel because it was still too cold to spend the night in the motorhome. Next night was further south and we finally de-winterized the motorhome. our next stop was in Salt Lake City. We will have to come back here, but now after two days we have to move south because bad weather is coming down this way. The last time we fuel up the motorhome was in October and we did not have the winter fuel yet. Guess what? One fuel line froze and blew. We spent the night in a motel in Beaver, Utah. $404 later we are back on the road, not too bad after all! We also spent our first night in a casino parking lot, just like a Walmart. We made it to Las Vegas and we stopped for a week. We visited the Strip, the old Vegas and even went to the Grand Canyon. We went to see our first Cirque Du Soleil, the show "LOVE". This is just incredible. By the way, it never rains in Las Vegas, but while we were there, it rained 3 days... Are the Gods mad at us?
Next stop was the Camping World in Las Vegas. We have to change the fridge, the furnace and install a new washer/dryer combo in the motorhome. A little over $4000.00 later we are back on the road. For a 14 years old motorhome, not to bad after all. We have our first desert experience in Quartzsite. A week with no service or "Boondocking". We enjoyed it and we will come back.

December, we leave Quartzsite behind us and move south to Yuma, Arizona. The main reason we are here in Yuma is for new glasses and work to be done on our teeth in Mexico. The people in the RV park are great, we got involved almost right away in the activities. A nice surprise await us, Terry, a long time friend from our military life is here in Yuma and she came for a visit. Good to see you again Terry and we hope our path will cross again soon. We checked out the Tamale Festival, it was good, but we are not fond of Mexican food. We soon learn that the days are kind of warm at +20 C, but the nights are cold in the desert, +8 at night.

What are our plans for 2014 you ask? We are just starting to write them in the sand and the wind is already blowing hard... We will see!

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For those of you who like numbers, here are the last 3 years.
I go by a "fiscal" year from January 1st to December 31st.

For the car...

	Distance traveled in kilometers	Average cost per liters.	Total for gas.	Liters/100 km	M/Gals
2011	23,135	$1.100	$2,438.7	8.920	33.08
2012	18,305	$1.135	$1,879.4	9.660	33.11
2013	13,071	$1.059	$1,334.5	10.030	29.84
	__________	__________	__________	__________	__________
	54,511	$1.098	$5,652.59	9.537	32.010

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For the motorhome...

	Distance traveled in kilometers	Average cost per liters.	Total for gas.	Liters/100 km	M/Gals
2011	9,159.3	1.120	$3,043.6	30.14	9.39
2012	15,459	1.142	$5,038.7	29.79	9.98
2013	12,068	1.131	$4,023.2	29.63	9.58
	__________	__________	__________	__________	__________
	27,527	$1.137	$9,061.84	29.710	9.780

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Propane...

	Liters	$	Average cost.
2011	166.861	$167.2	$1.002
2012	217.823	$181.0	$0.834
2013	194.699	$154.5	$0.812
	__________	__________	__________
	579.383	$502.77	$0.88

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Camping...

	Total cost for the year	Average cost per day.
2011	$7,867.94	$21.56
2012	$7,021.24	$19.18
2013	$8,031.54	$22.00
	__________	__________
	$22,920.72	$20.91

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Running the generator...

	Hours it was run.
2011	65.8
2012	89.8
2013	89.9
	__________
	245.5

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And the last item, major repairs...

	Total cost per year.
2011	$371.21
2012	$1,221.72
2013	$7,020.51
	__________
	$8,613.44

Conclusion, we still have a great time and we hope you enjoy our web page as much as we like to write it, Come and travel with us in 2014...

Until next time.

Life is good...

If you think you have missed an update, just click on the "2012", "2011" or "2010" tab at the top of the page and pick the month you want to read.