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1 to 15 November 2023 16 to 30 November 2023

Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

Today is PJ day at the daycare. Natasha is super excited about this.

We are leaving Friday morning for Yuma. I know it is early to load the car for the trip down, but I want to see how much stuff we actually are bringing down to Yuma.
It is not too bad. The trunk is full. The backseat still has some room.

Jeremy starts a new trial shift at work. Nobody wanted it, but the Officer did. So it happens. He now works from 10 am to 10 pm.
He dropped off Natasha at daycare and will not see her until tomorrow morning, but now, he has no time to do or go anywhere when he is starting at 10 am.
We picked up Natasha at daycare. She is so easy to care for when her parents are not around.

We are more excited as we get closer to Friday because many of our friends are already on the road to Yuma.

Just like all the years we have been going south for the winter, we have to ask our group health insurance for an exemption so we can get more than 90 days of medication, more like 180 days. Our good government has changed the administrator of our plan. It is supposed to be much better, right? So, we went from Sunlife to Canada Life. What a nightmare. As usual, I call more than a week before we leave because they usually make mistakes or they simply forget...
I waited for two hours on the phone only to be hung up for no reason. Lucky me, I got to leave a voicemail before they kicked me out. Surprise, surprise, they did call me back! They assure me it will be done over the next few days. More surprises, I get to the pharmacy and sure enough, they have 180 days worth of medicines waiting for me. I am speechless. But, when I check my medication, one is short 170 days! The pharmacist says to come back on Monday. I come back Monday, still missing 170 days of medicine. They told me to come back Tuesday. I came back and had no medicine. What is going on? It is not a special medication, just for cholesterol...
They say to come back Wednesday, it will be ready for you. I arrived Wednesday, and they lost my prescription !!! But the computer says it is done... After 10 more minutes, they find the prescription, but it is short 10 pills. I told them to just give me the prescription, do not worry about the 10 pills. I have some extra. They feel bad, and they should... Over the last 13 years of going south for the winter. Something almost always gets screwed up one way or another. I must be the only Canadian going south for the winter that needs prescriptions...

Thursday, November 2, 2023.

Natasha is at the post office to mail one last letter to her mom.

This is the last day with Natasha and Jeremy. We will miss them.

Friday, November 3, 2023.

Time to hit the road. After our goodbyes to Natasha and Jeremy, we hit the road by 8 am. We are on our way to Nanaimo and get on the ferry from Duke Point and Tsawessen on the mainland.
The ferry we booked leaves at 10:15, here here we are at 9: 35 to get on the ferry. Just like the airport, you have to get there early.

The loading is well orchestrated.

The crossing is a little over 2 hours. For some reason, we are tired, and it is only 11 am.

Shortly after we left the ferry, we stopped at the local Subway for lunch and possibly supper.

The time between the ferry and the US border is about a 40 minute drive.

Today is Friday afternoon. They only have 3 lanes open!
We waited about an hour. You have to keep smiling. They are listening! We are visitors to their country after all.

Three lanes open, but at least 15 agents milling around looking at nothing... Keep smiling. They are listening.

We made it in about 4 questions. Welcome to the USA.

Being Friday afternoon, we decided to bypass Seattle. We are taking the same route Jan and Jannie took a few days earlier. We leave I-5 to take US-2 east. Next, we take WS-203 south to finally get on the I_90 east. We hardly had any traffic on the roads.

We can see Mont Rainier in the distance.

First stop for gas. It is about $1.59 CDN per litre.

Many of the reservoirs are very low again this year.

I-90 is a beautiful road. The speed limit is 75 mph.

We will be stopping in Ellensburg, WA for the night.

It is not like driving the MH.

Our hotel for the night is the SureStay by Best Western. This is the discount hotel/motel for Best Western. They had a pool, very cold, and a hot tub super hot.
It is nice.

This is what we covered today.

This being the first time we travelled to Yuma by car, we did not know exactly where we would be stopping for the night. Also, the ferry does make it difference on your driving day. The 45 minutes prior to get on the ferry and the time it takes to get off the ferry, plus the 2 hours on the ferry. I basically take the whole morning to get to Vancouver. It is just a different timing to take into consideration when planning.

We miss them already.

Saturday, November 4, 2023.

We left Ellensburg under a rainy sky and it did not let up until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We turn southwest on I-82.

We were still under the rain when we entered Idaho. We turned onto I-84 south-west

By two pm, the rain let up and the driving got easier.

En route to Twin Falls.

What is that, blue sky!

We made two stops for gas, this is one of them. the cost is bout $1.45 per litre and the other was $1.33 per litre.

We found another SureStay by Best Western for the night in Twin Falls, ID.

Time for a treat. We eat at the Outback steak house and it is good.

Today was not a pleasant day driving in the rain. We still covered over 500 miles or 805 km.
If we had been in the MH, we would have stopped way earlier.
We crossed many mountain ranges today with over 4,000 feet in altitude.

Sunday, November 5, 2023.

We left Twin Falls, Idaho at around 7:15 this morning. No rain, I am happy. We are now on US-73 south and we are driving at 75 mph with no traffic. It is great!

This is not like the MH!

We entered Nevada, in the little town of Jackpot!

Does it have a casino? Of course, it does.

The towns/villages are far and few in between. We do not know what the fence is about. we saw 5 or 6 a hundred yards apart.

Snow?

We are coming up in the small town of Wells, NV.

Since we are in Nevada, why not a casino.

A little further, we came upon the narrow gorge,. It was pretty. We are at over 6,000 feet in altitude.

After that, we are back on flat land, still at 5,00 feet of altitude. This is where we hit the most bug on the windshield!

Just before Las Vegas, we stopped for gas at $1.48 per litre.

The smog you see is over Las Vegas!

After Las Vegas, we leave US-73 to head east towards Laughlin, NV and spend the night there.

We arriver at 5 pm at the Tropicana casino.

Another good day of driving. Tomorrow we only have half a day of driving before we get to our 5th wheel in Yuma.

What a day for keeping track of time. With the change of time this weekend and the crossing of States/time zones. Friday, we left on Pacific time. Saturday, we left on Pacific time and finished the day on Mountain time (+1). overnight we moved the clock back 1 hour (-1). Today we are in Nevada and we move our clock back one more hour(-1). Tomorrow we move our clock forward one hour to be in Mountain time (+1). Are we confused?

Monday, November 6, 2023

We left Laughlin, NV around 5;45, but Arizona time.
This is the Casino Drive early in the morning.
Our hotel, the Tropicana Casino, is pretty cheap at $37 US a night. But! You add $14.50 for the Casino fee (?), plus taxes. Rooms do not have microwaves or mini-fridges.
They do not want you to eat or have a cold drink in your room. They want you on the casino floor.
Here in Nevada, you are allowed to smoke in casinos. Even on the eleventh floor, the cigarette smoke was pretty strong in the hallways.
Not nice, regardless of the price. I do not think we will come back here, but who knows...

We are about half a day's drive from our RV Resort. We are excited.

This casino was closed because it was too old to fix up.

Our last breakfast on the road is at the McDonald's.

We start the drive on AZ 75 south to move over to CA 75. We made it back to AZ 75 south
The scenery is so nice.

Just as we got close to Yuma, we hit road construction for a few kilometres.

Western Sands RV Resort.

And our 5th wheel waiting for us.

This is the travelling we did today.

We got home at around 11 am. I get busy hooking up the battery, getting the water softener hooked up, and hooking it up to the 5th wheel.
Meanwhile, Michele removed all the plastic sheeting we covered the inside with. We have some dust inside, but not too bad, actually. The area around the entrance is way more sandy. After a quick dusting/vacuuming, she goes to the grocery store and buys the basics for the next few days. Of course, our friends decided to have happy hour at our place!
Not a problem. We are happy to be here.

As for the 5-gallon water buckets and the couple of 1-gallon jugs we left inside the 5th wheel. They were 2/3 gone, and the inside is in pretty good shape. The cabinet doors were good, not split.

Tuesday and Wednesday, November 7 and 8, 2023.

After talking about it, we were supposed to buy an apartment-size fridge from Home Depot. We decided to buy 2 and be done with it.
It is a good thing because Home Depot has a sale on the fridge we want. We went to Home Depot and bought 2 fridges.

One fridge will go and replace the RV Fridge in the 5th wheel. The other will go in the shed. This will give us lots of freezer space.
We continue the light cleaning. It is amazing what we forgot that we had left here last year.
Michele went to the bingo and won $30, but I stayed home to relax.

So, on Wednesday, we went to Home Depot with Judith and Eric with their truck to pick up the fridges.
We also take that time to go to Sam's Club to get a membership for $50. This includes two membership cards and they do not have to have the same last name. We got one, and Judith got one.

When we got home, we moved one fridge in the shed and left one on the patio overnight.

Thursday, November 9, 2023.

Dennis offered to help me replace the 5th wheel fridge since he did it last winter.
So, I unplugged the fridge, cut two 12-volt wires and capped the propane line. We took out 6 screws and moved the fridge outside.
It is a heavier fridge.

Meanwhile, Michele cleaned the area where the fridge was. We prepped the new fridge.

Since our 5th wheel will not be moving for many years to come, maybe never, we do not attach the new fridge to the structure.
It may look smaller, but in reality, it is one cubic foot bigger. The freezer is much bigger.

We are very happy with our purchase.

The evening was spent with our friends on the patio with the fire pit going.

We are happy to be back and being with our friends for the winter.

Friday, November 10, 2023.

Last year, we bought two recliners from a local store.
We will pick them up tomorrow with Eric and Judith's truck.
We placed an ad on Market Place, and in the Park for the two recliners and the RV Fridge.
In three hours, the two recliners were sold.

One of our friends found out that on Friday evening, they have a market with lots of food trucks in town.
We are going to check it out and have supper there.

Well! It was not what we expected. We did not enjoy it at all. With so many food trucks in the area. They all have a construction generator running. It is loud, smells like exhaust, and is not fun at all. We will not go back.

Natasha is ready for the Remembrance Day parade with Daddy.

Natasha and Jeremy love going for a walk after supper.

Saturday, November 11, 2023.

The Park is having a free to veterans, breakfast this morning.

Even if the Park is only half full, the turnout is pretty good.

Usually, we do not like the Biscuit and Gravy" that the Americans love, but the gravy was very good. As for the "biscuits", it is not to our liking. It is not that it tastes bad. It is just we are not used to it.
The breakfast was enjoyed by all.

Gaétan was selling the 50/50 ticket. Usually, I sell them too. But being Veterans Day, Michele and I enjoyed the meal.

After breakfast, we all went to the Arizona Market just to check it out and maybe have lunch there. We did and it was good.
After that, we picked up our two recliners from the store.
Once again, we borrowed Judith and Eric, with their truck for that.