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1 to 15 December 2016 16 to 31 December 2016

Thursday December 1, 2016

Another do nothing day...
Morning in the desert are on the cool/cold side, but it usually warms up quickly.

The view out front windows.

Time to go to the pool. Michele is taking photos without me knowing!!!

The hot tub is nice.

As usual, time for a campfire. I am next to the palm tree (left).

Michele and I are also doing some serious reading.

Friday December 2, 2016

Last night we decided to visit "Joshua Tree National Park" today.
We are under a high wind warning today. Winds in the 30 to 40 miles per hours with gusts of up to 50 miles per hours.
Being in the desert, this wind kicks up a lot of dust and sands. Of course it takes the smog from LA and blows it right at us.

We take Box Canyon road to get to the park. We saw some really nice scenery.

We enter "Joshua Tree National Park" from the south. It is the Cottonwood entrance

After we paid our entrance fee, we drove to the first interesting place, Cottonwood Spring.
It is an oasis in the middle of the desert.

You drive in the desert and then you come up to this.

This part of the Park is in the Colorado Desert.

Our next stop is at the Cholla Cactus Garden. A warning about bees!!!

This type of cactus has other names, "Teddy Bear Cactus" and "Jumping Cactus". Jumping because it seems to jump at you if you get too close to it.

The garden has a nice 0.4 km trail.

It does look soft, but beware, if you brush against it, it will cling to you.

As usual, the photos are not as pretty as the real thing.

We leave the Colorado desert behind us and move into the Mojave Desert.

Out of the blue, these boulders show up!

Off to another trail.
Ah! We now know why the warning about bees...

Here is the small arch.

All along the trail, you have little placards explaining the fauna, flora and geology of the desert.

So where did these boulders come from?
They formed when the hot, molten fluids within the earth's crust gradually cooled into hard rock.

Another trail and this one has a fancy rock!

Here it is.

We walked the 2.7 km trail around Skull Rock.

The placards are really well done.

Can you see the elephant?

When I say big boulders, I mean BIG boulders!

Some of the local flora.

All these plants have evolved to survive in the dry desert environment.

Here is the tree that gave its name to the Park. Joshua Tree.
Have you noticed how far apart each plant are from each other?
This is so they do not compete against each other for water.

We are at the Key View at over 5,00 feet high.
We can see the Coachella Valley below us with the San Andreas Fault.

With the winds always blowing, they are using it to generate a lot of electricity.

We loved our visit to Joshua Tree National Park. We recommend this national parkt if you are ever near the park.
If or when we come back in this area, we will go back to walk more trails.

Saturday December 3, 2016

Another do nothing day, but I did eat some very good crepe made by Michele.

Pool, books and the sun, life is good!

Sunday December 4, 2016

I am doing some maintenance work on the MH today.
First I added some water to all the batteries on the coach side of the MH.
When you are in drier climate, you find your batteries are losing water at a faster rate then normal.
My coach batteries are located under the main entrance steps.

After that, I checked all the tires pressure on the MH and car.

Now it is time for some reading, hot tub and a campfire!

Bonus, a nice sunset.

We had a very nice week.
Tomorrow we are leaving for Yuma.

Monday December 5, 2016

We are on the road driving south, south-east.
Yuma, Arizona is our destination.
We left the campground by 9 am this morning.
We follow the Salton Sea for about 50 km before we leave it behind us.

Like I mentioned before, we are in the Colorado desert and when we say desert, we mean sand and rocks. The only things green are the agricultural fields and boy do they need a lot of water.

Water is expensive here and it must come by canals like this small one.

Eventually we left behind the secondary roads to take Interstate 8 East.

Beautiful road with some construction here and there.

Look at all the re-bars needed to make a concrete road.

I did not think we would make it to Yuma with the gasoline we had in the MH. I was getting a little low on fuel, but the roads are so flat and the traffic so light that I could drive a little slower and made great gas mileage.

That black line you see on the horizon is a wall between the US and Mexico.
No, Trump did not built it, it has been there for many years.

Imperial Dunes is a very popular destination for 4 wheel drive vehicles of any kind.

We made it to Yuma with fuel to spare!

After we fueled up, we made it to our new home.

We have to move our clock forward by an hour, we are in mountain time.

Once installed, we go for a little groceries shopping. Of course, we also have to wash the car...

We only drove 200 km today, the roads were very nice and the traffic was light, perfect!

Tuesday December 6, 2016

The first thing we did today was going down to Los Algodones to get our teeth fixed.
Let me explain, I broke the two posts in my implants. The implants were done here in Los Algodones, but the post and tooth was done in Progesso, Mexico, near Donna Texas. The dentists in Ontario recommended we wait until we were in Mexico again to get it fixed. As for Michele, one of her crown is not sitting properly on her gum and it could possibly be bad in a few years. The same dentists in Ontario told her to wait until we were in Mexico.
Well, we are now near Mexico! We want to get all the work done before the end of December because after that it gets too busy in Los Algodones. That is why we are at the dentists this morning.
Everything is paid in American Dollars here.

We were at the dentist office at 10 am this morning and without an appointment. We were told to come back at 1h30 for the initial exam.
We decided to have a nice coffee and pastry while waiting.

The main street with all the vendors, optical and dentist.

It does not take long to realize they all sell the same stuff.

For those who think Mexico is a dangerous place, there is no danger here, as long as you stay in the tourist area. That does not mean it is dangerous further into town.
This is the restaurant where we ate lunch and listened to good music. Two margaritas and a club sandwich for $16 US.

More vendors.

We had our initial exam and it looks like it will cost me about $1000.00 US dollar to fix my broken posts. Mainly because it was not all done by the dentist here in Los Algodones. As for Michele, they agreed the crown was not done well and will replace it free of charge.
The appointment to start the work is for tomorrow morning at around 10 am.

December 6th! Hummmm!
Happy Birthday Michele, happy birthday Michele!
Happy Birthday my Love!
As per tradition, a tequila shooter is needed to celebrate Michele's Birthday.
Getting setup...

Ready...

Lick the salt...

Drink the tequila shooter...

Bite into the lemon...

Sadly, to get good photos we had to have a few shooters, I mean 3 or 4 of them in a row!!!
You got to do what you got to do for the blog...

Wednesday December 7, 2016

We are back in Los Algodones for our first dental appointment.
We go to Sani Group Dentists.

One thing you learn in Mexico is time is different, it is called "TIM" or "Time In Mexico".
So, if your appointment is at 10 am, you could go in at 10 am or any time later...
All dentists are like that. All is good and no problems with both of our appointments.

After lunch, we drop by Algodones Optical to get new frames and lenses for both of us.
On top of replacing our current glasses, I get an extra pair of glasses for computers.
The cost? $452 US for all 3 pairs of glasses including the frames with "high index", progressive lenses for both of us and with transition for mine. Not bad at all.

As we were eating, we saw this guy with all the hats on his head, kind of funny!

We had a nice sunset tonight.

We also learned something else when dealing with Mexican dentist. When they want you to come back the next day at a later time, you do not do that. You make the next appointment the following day early in the morning. Less chance of them being late and waiting many hours because for them. So, our second appointment is set for Friday at 9 am for Michele and 10 am for me.

Thursday December 8, 2016

We feel like we are rushing since we got here in Yuma.
Today we do not move.
Here is our site.
As you can see, we are not quite setup...
We will get there!

Michele had gone shopping at some thrift shoppes and when she came back, she prepares her soup with no calories.

I still have a few basements compartment floor's not done with laminate flooring.
In the park, by the dumpster, people put stuff they no longer use and you take what you want.
Well, someone had changed their flooring from laminate to something else and all the laminate was there for the taking.
I took a few pieces to do the floor in our basement.

Ready for this project, but it will happen another day...

Friday December 9, 2016

We are back from our second appointment in Los Algodones.
This one was basically to confirm the crown made did fit and to chose the color. They are now ready to be "cooked". They want us to come back tomorrow, but nooooo! Monday morning at 9 am for both of us.

Our new glasses are ready and we stopped to picked them up.
We are happy with the results. Let's be real here, they are not a pair that cost $800 or $900 each, but they do the work.

With all the construction going on on I-8, we have to detour by Winterhaven and what do we see in town?
A big marines helicopter on a transport truck!

We made it home before lunch.
It is time to make the floor in the last two basement compartments.
This one is now done.

The second one. I do not have any photos of the third one I made. The arrow is pointing to where the other floor went. I made this one with a "stop" so stuff could not hit the electrical connections and other wires located up there.

I am getting a roast ready for supper. I am following a recipe from a cookbook.
Technically I should be good.

Us with our new glasses.

Well I will be darned! I followed the recipe, the potatoes and carrots are not anywhere cooked!!! I do not understand...
Oh well!

Saturday December 10, 2016

We are at the Arizona Market Place this morning. This place is like a flea market with only new stuff. This is not our kind of place, but we still enjoyed it. We bought a few things and we found a place that will change our MH windshield on site.

After the Market Place, we went for a visit at Rose and Barry's place. They are spending the winter in Yuma. We forgot to take some photos!

Tonight, we are at our first bingo of the winter. Michele won with another lady, she got $15.

We have had a good day. The thermometer hits +25°C today.

Sunday December 11, 2016

We are at the other other flea market in Yuma.
This is our kind of place. It is more "Mexican" in style and we love it.

Nice bike!

Back home, we spent the afternoon reading and working on the web page.

We only have one more appointment for our teeth. It is tomorrow morning at 9 am.
We cannot wait to be done!

Monday December 12, 2016

We are back in Los Algodones for our third and final appointment at the dentist.
Our appointments are at 9 am. We left the dentist at 11:30 am.
It started very good, Michele was done in half an hour. As for myself, I did not double-check that my mouth guard was included in the work requested. So, $85 later and another half hour wait time, I got my new mouth guard. This one hurts big time! They took another impression of my teeth and we had to wait another half hour. The next mouth guard fits like a glove.
Next stop is at the "Insurance Claim" paperwork office. More wait time, remember TIM? Time In Mexico! She told me that she will email the completed forms. I wonder how long it will take.

Regardless of the wait time, we are very happy with the work done on our teeth. Specially when it cost 1/3 the price then Canada.

Here I am working on the next update of our blog. I am wearing my new "computer glasses". I am very happy I got those made.

Overall, it was a good day!

Tuesday December 13, 2016

Michele and I are going biking. We rode our bikes for about 6 km just to rebuilt our bike seat bums...
By the time we got back, the temperature was +27°C. Michele sat in the sun to read and I sat in the shade to read, both of us with a nice cool drink in our hands.
I am contacting my insurance company to get our MH windshield replaced. No problems, we will be contacted by an American adjuster in a few hours. We talk to the adjuster and they said the business we talked to was a preferred contractor, great!
Talk about confusion! The windshield replacement shop called. The lady I talked to did not know that a Forestriver Georgetown XL is a MH and not a car, imagine, they specialize in MH windshield!!! She said she will contact me in a few days with the right info... WOW!

What a trill, we did laundry this afternoon...

We had a nice sunset.

My belle Michele!
It is 6 pm and the temperature is dropping quickly in the desert.
We went in shortly after this photo.

Talking about the weather in Yuma, it is not Florida, but we do not have the humidity like Florida. In December and January it is cooler and by 4 or 5 pm, we have to put a jacket on. Usually it drops down to about 14°C at night, no need for the AC to run at night. By 10 in the morning it warmed up to about +20°C and by late afternoon it is +24C.

Wednesday December 14, 2016

We are having a potluck diner at the clubhouse.
However, before I talk about the potluck, I want to talk about the price of meat here in Yuma. We heard that when the Snowbirds arrive in Yuma, prices tend to go up some. We bought chicken for only $0.57 a pound, we also bought three big pork roast for only $8.00. I cannot imagine the prices when snowbirds are not around!!!

Back to the potluck, the clubhouse is decorated for Christmas

We are sitting with our neighbors from across the street.
Darn, we are the last table to go get our meal.
The "old farts" do not realize that they cannot take large quantity of food or we, the last table, do not get any meat and other side dish.
So, we had plenty of salads and beans, oh well!

Still, the food we got was good...

Thursday December 15, 2016

We are back on the bikes today. We are geocaching near our RV Park.
To get to some caches we have to bike on a few busy streets.
One of the many canal used to irrigate the fields around town.
This water comes from the Colorado River.

They have some weird trees here. I am going to have to buy some books about trees in this area.

One of the cache is in this tree. It has some weird looking fruits. The branches have thorns and they hurt like hell.

We had found a few caches by the time we got to this one.
We never had to find a cache on or next to rails.

Michele got the eye! She was looking at this spike and taught there was something unusual about it. When she touched it, she found the cache...

We are at the West Wetlands Park in Yuma.
We are walking/biking next to the Colorado River.

Another cache was located next to the solar power farm.
Some of the art around the park.

We have found 8 caches and biked 10 km today.
It is time to join my friends across the street for a nice cold beer.

We had another good day.

Until next time.

Life is good...