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1 to 15 January 2014 16 to 31 January 2014

Wednesday January 1st, 2014

We went for a short bike ride for New Years day.
Michele and I visited two RV park close to the one we are at. This one has a neat building at the back of the park.

Next on our ride, we saw this huge playground for kids. Isn't it beautiful?

It is one of those days, hot tub, reading and some TV. A nice way to start 2014.

Thursday January 2, 2014

The flowers we purchased are nice, but let's see how long they will last compare to the previous one...

When we switched the TV in the bedroom, I found a 12 volts plug behind the TV. So now I am trying it to see if it works. Not! It is not even connected to anything!!! Here where it was...

Since our stay in the desert, I found that it would be nice to have a 12 volts power outlet somewhere in the motorhome.
It will be used to recharged the IPod, tablet and the cell phone and more things I did not even think about yet when we only have battery power and solar power..
I relocated the outlet below its original location, next to the fuses/circuit box of the 120 volts and 12 volts of the motorhome.

This was a short modification, before lunch I am off for a bike ride to Pivot Point in Yuma. Pivot Point is the narrowest point on the Colorado river for miles around. Here we can see Fort Yuma. In the foreground, you can see the Colorado river.

The Colorado river is full of sediment, not good for consumption. Early in Yuma history an engineer developed a way to clean water easily. He invented a pump and decanting ponds to clean water. Here is a pump from the late 1800.

Since Yuma was the southern most way to get to California. Yuma saw many engines go by. In 2013 more than 50 trains a day go through Yuma on there way east.
This locomotive, the 2521, rode on the rails between 1907 and 1957. It traveled more than 2.5 millions miles and was weighting 38800 pounds. The 2521 could pull 35 cars fully loaded at a speed of 40 miles an hour.

In the "cockpit" of the engine 2521.

After this informative stop, I continue east to the Yuma East Wetland.

Back home, we found out we were invited to a cocktail (4 'til 7) at one of our neighbors. Boy did we have some good talk and good clean fun.

Friday and Saturday, December 3 and 4, 2014

Friday was a good old stay at home day. We got our confirmation from our dental plan for dental work to be done in Mexico, but I will have to call them Monday morning to clarify some points...

Saturday was another easy day, but it is also the beginning of the 2014 season on Bingo!

Lucky start, I won $30 tonight. I sure hope it will keep up!!!

Sunday January 5, 2014

Beautiful sunny day. We are invited to Alfred's birthday party. He is one of our neighbor.
There was more that 60 peoples present for this birthday, WOW! We had to bring finger food, but the birthday cake is waiting for us...
It was some good!!!

Lucille and Alfred, they are just great people. We are happy to have met them.

Alfred turned 70 today. WOW!

Wednesday January 6, 2014

We are on our way to Mexico and to do so we have to drive in California.
There is a lot of farm machineries on the road around Yuma.
If you wonder why Mexico this morning, we can now make our appointments for our teeth.

Well, the big jobs on our teeth starts tomorrow morning.

The photo of the raisins floating in gin is for our friend June. Last year she had the same thing sitting on her counter and when I asked what it was, she told me it was supposed to help with arthritis by only taking 6 raisins a day.
I am a little behind so I take 15 per day... ;-)

Tonight we are doing some mental preparation for tomorrow. Michele has 10 crowns to be done and I have 22 crowns, plus 2 posts to be inserted in the jaw. This is for two teeth that I will have installed next year. Michele also will have a bridge done.

Tuesday January 7, 2014

We forgot that Mexicans do not run on normal time, they run an Mexican time, slow...
Our appointment is for 10 am and Michele got in at 10 and me at 10:40.

I come off the dentist chair at 1:15 in the afternoon, there was no break in there. Michele is out of there at about the same time! Her dentist was working on two patients at the same time... We are back home with temporary dentures in our mouth. Tomorrow we will be back at the dentist for the fitting of the crowns.

A nice sunset over Yuma.

Let me tell you, our jaws hurt after being open for over two hour, but will we look good after all this!

Wednesday January 8, 2014

Back on the road to Los Algodones, Mexico and our dentists. Some of the fields are ready for harvesting.

Bad luck at the dentist, the person before me has had some issues and the dentist is now late. My appointment goes from 3 pm to 4:15 pm. WE are off for a beer at El Paraiso. Look at the label, only in Spanish.

Pour appointments are to fit all our crowns and make sure they all "work" good and that we are happy.
So tomorrow it is the installation of 10 crowns for Michele and 22 crowns and two posts for me.
Our appointment is for 4:30 tomorrow, but if the Mexican tradition continues... time will stretch.

Thursday January 9, 2014

This morning I went in the electric cooler for a pop and found one of the Coke had exploded. What a mess to clean-up.

The flowers we have this time are not as pretty as the last one...

First the exploded Coke and now, while I was dumping the used water, I started to fill the fresh water tank. I forgot the fresh waster tank!!! 20 minutes later I hear water hitting the patio. It is coming off the vent pipe from the fresh water tank. Tabar%$@& (this is a French swear word). I shut the water and looked at the tank. I am lucky because it did not explode. It is a little deformed.
First, photo is with the water tank in the normal state...

And now when it is way over filled!

We are very lucky nothing broke!

One more time at the dentist.
The waiting room.

Did I mentioned that time is irrelevant in Mexico? Our appointment is for 4 pm. We finally got out of there at 10 pm! There goes that French word again! Tabar&%@$%!
When I will have calm down I will give you our opinion regarding out experience with Mexican dentist.
We had tickets to see a, Elvis impersonator at the RV park, but we missed it because of the dentist...

Friday January 10, 2014

After last night, I still have to go back to get my mouth guard.
My appointment is at 1 pm, they promised me I would be in at 1 PM, right!
More fields are ready for harvesting.

Before my appointment, we have lunch and a drink so the "delay" will be easier to take... Remember, they work on Mexican time here!!!

A margarita for Michele, $5 is not too bad and it sure taste tequila, but very little strawberry!

A very good Mexican beer for only $2.

Back to my appointment! This is only to be fitted with a mouth guard and a few "adjustment" for the crowns. The promise was for 1 pm.
I got on the chair at 1:45, not to bad after all. We are back on the street by 2 pm. Now we only need the paperwork to make a claim from our dental plan.

OK! I will tell you what we have learned about dentist in Mexico.
After all, we are very happy with the treatment we got here in Mexico. Would we come back? Yes!
It is a very clean place to go to (dental office), but at the same time you are not in Canada.
Our dental place was the "Sani Dental Group". There are many other, but I can only talk about our place. So, I got 22 crowns, two titanium implants and I will get two teeth place on those implants next year when it is all healed. Michele got 10 crowns and a bridge. We are very happy with the results and no, we were never afraid while in Mexico.
Just to give you an idea on the cost, a crown, including lab work and X-ray is $160 US. This is in January 2014. I think the numbers say it all! Will your dental plan cover work done in Mexico? That is for you to verify. For us very little will be covered, but it is worth the expense in the long-term.

Saturday January 11, 2014

At the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park they have the "Gathering Of The Gunfighters" today and tomorrow. It is a group of people who come together once a year and compete to see who does the best skit and does it the closest to 1880.
This takes place at the prison.
Here is the entrance of the prison and the "observation" tower...

A view of the ground where the competition will take place.

The stage.

What will happen today.

One of the actor, he was so funny.

After each skit, the judges go over all aspect of the skit, from the safety of the firearm blanks, costume worn by the actors. It was very impressive to listen to.

The actors were all very generous of their time and knowledge.
Here are a few of them..

Lunch break! A fried bread Indian style taco. Very good, but so greasy!

Since we were on the prison ground, we took the opportunity to visit the prison itself.
Construction of the prison was authorized in 1875 and the first prisoner came in in 1876. It was in use until 1909. After that it was used as a High School between 1910 and 1914, than a hospital from 1914 until 1925. After that, the homeless used it as homes for many years. During the great flood, many residents of Yuma took bits and pieces from the old prison. Finally in 1940 the prison was turned into a museum to protect it from further destruction.

What it looked like in the 1890's

The prison was actually built by the prisoner themselves. They live 6 per cell.

I think you can picture it?

The dentist...

Another view of the grounds of the prison. We have a blanket because the wind was pretty cool during the skit presentation.

This is the way the prisoner's pictures were taken, from one photo you can see the front and side of the face, smart!

On our way back to the car we walked by the prison cemetery.

It was a good day and we really enjoyed the gathering of the gunslingers.

Sunday January 12, 2014

I am off with the bicycle this morning. I did a nice 17 kilometers ride.
Here, I am at the Ocean-to-Ocean bridge over the Colorado river.

On the left, the Ocean-to-Ocean bridge and on the right, the Railroad bridge.

The Colorado river, This river is only a shadow of what it was like 100 years ago. By the time it makes its way to Mexico, it is pretty well dry, less than 10 feet wide.

Another view of the bridges and to the left, the observation tower from the Yuma Territorial Prison where we were yesterday.

This afternoon I rinse the hot water tank. The water in Yuma has a very high contain of sodium and other minerals, this allows a buildup of "stuff" in the hot water tank.
This is after only 6 weeks in Yuma, look at the ground, can you see all the white particles? This is from a 10 gallon hot water tank...

The tool I use to rinse the hot water tank.

I think I will rinse off the tank again after we leave Yuma.

Monday January 13, 2014

A lazy day for today! So, I decided to check the broken electric step of the motorhome. When it is extended and you step on it, it retracts a little.

After a quick look, I realise that a repair has taken place before. The arrow indicates where I installed the new bolt. This old repair worked for a long time so I am not going to change it.

Not too bad of a repair for only $1.07. What next?

The retracting floor over the steps, it has not worked since November 11, 2013.
I had checked the fuses before, but decide to check them again. Remember in November it was some cold.

It turns out a fuse marked "Keyless Entry" is actually for the retracting floor!!!
A quick fix, but as soon as I try the floor, it blows again???
There is a spot where the floor rubs against and it is very dry, a little Jig-a-loo and all is well.

Darn, less than half an hour and I fixed two problems, I have to find something else to fix now!

Time to silicone the trim around the shower. It does not look good now, but once it will have time to cure, it will look better.

WOW! What a good day!
A few beer as a reward and even a trip to the hot tub.

Tuesday January 14, 2014

Today we are visiting the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.
Didn't we see enough aircraft in our career?
I guess not, we even take a couple of friends with us.

The first part of the tour is a K-9 demonstration. It is very impressive what they can get those dogs to do.

Marines F-18.

Yuma is home to one squadron of "Agressor". They use F-5 because they are very similar to the russian migs.

A bomb disposal robot.

We also had a demonstration of the basic skills a Marines has to meet as a soldier. We really enjoyed this part of the tour.

This was a good day. Our friends even invited us for lunch.

Wednesday January 15, 2014

Bean Bag game day. We had fun, but Michele had a terrible partner, me! On the positive side, I won the 50/50. We are now $11 richer.
According to Michele, I would need to practice a lot to get better...

After Bean Bag, we were invited for a few drinks at Dawn and Brian's place.

Lots of fun today.

Until next time.

Life is good...