The Wilsons

Well, it's been a while since one of us wrote something here. I can't seemt to remember what we have been doing lately except eat. Allan is complaining of putting on weight and I know I have as well. I guess we can blame our friends who are all cleaning out their fridges and feeding everyone stuff they are trying to get rid of. This "cleaning out parties" has become an annual thing. Very enjoyable if not very fattening. We are busy right now getting the motorhome packed up for the trip home and we are watching the weather carefully. So far many friends have left and reached home safely with relatively few problems. Hopefully the same will happen for us. We are heading out on Monday and should be home by Thursday.

All for now. Maybe more later when I think of what we have been up to.

Wow, where did February go? We finally get home from our various road trips in January and the next thing I know March is creeping up on us.

Our friends in Quartzsite invited a few of us over for dinner. We all went in 1 car so we only had to worry about 1 person drinking. Dinner was fabulous, the weather was not. Fortunately John brought one of his heaters over and George had one as well so we were able to be toasty warm under their large patio awning. We also managed to stay dry considering how much it rained while there.

Our street had its 2nd Annual Rowdy Row and Friends Street Party and it was a lot of fun. The entire street turned out and basically everyone in the park was invited. We estimated about 85 to 100 people were there for a wonderfully warm and sunny afternoon of snacks, beverages and conversation. Looking forward to the 3rd Annual Rowdy Row and Friends Street Party.

Earlier this week Frank and Margaret (our next door neighbours) had their once a year happy hour. Again lots of people, food, beverages and conversation. Everyone stayed quite late into the evening as it was one of the first warm nights we have had.

Allan, Keith and Bobby went out in their dune buggies with a couple of neighbours in the passenger seats for an afternoon of fun. Allan got more than he bargained for. (Boy was I glad I wasn't there this time.) As he was going down a ravine, he hit a rock. He says he stopped moving and when he looked over at the passenger side of the car - there was the wheel on the ground. It had broken right off. Anyways they managed to get him out of the ravine with help from Keith's winch. They then tied Allan's front bumper to Bobby's back bumper and they limped home on 3 wheels. Frank had to move to Bobby's buggy. The fun time for Allan was when they had to go up a hill, Allan would start the buggy and give Bobby a boost. It took Bobby a moment to figure out why he was going faster.



Anyways they all made it home safe and sound and the buggy is now at Dan's (our builder) for repairs. Hopefully we will get it back soon.


Yesterday was John and Susies 3rd annual shrimp boil. What a feast that is! I can not believe how good it is. Every year it just keeps getting better and better. Lots of people, food, beverages, sunshine, heat, conversation and after supper a bunch of us played left, right, centre. I lost (of course) but then again it was only 9 cents!

Today is another sunny warm day so I must get busy and do something, or not!

Hi all, I finally remembered that I should probably post something here for all to read. We have had a busy January and it's only half over.

We enjoyed a great New Years and celebrating Allan's 60th birthday. Yup, he is officially a senior citizen and to prove it he will be receiving his first Canada Pension Plan (CPP) cheque next month. Yeah! More money.

More money! Yeah! We have now spent his 2012, 2013 & probably 2014 alottment of CPP cheques. We went to Redlands last week to have some new MCD blinds installed in the motor home and then we decided we should get a different brake system for the car/motor home so we had the SMI break system installed while there.

Next off to Indio to enjoy the annual FMCA rally. We met up with several of our friends at the Spotlight 29 Casino so we could enter the fairgrounds together so we could park together. Done and done. We enjoyed much laughter and beverages while at the rally every day with our friends. First time we have ever bought liquor by the case. Bought a case of Margaritas from Costco ($9.99 per bottle). Spent days visiting the vendor areas.

Allan ended up chatting with the Redlands folks again about our noise in the front end of the motor home and they sent a rep down to take a look. Oh! oh! It was the shocks that needed replacing, but not only that we found that a rear seal was leaking and we need to have a brake service (lube brake parts and change fluid) . . . so . . . after the rally is done - off we go - back to Redlands to have new shocks installed, the rear seal replaced and the brakes cleaned, flushed and whatever else they needed to do. WOW! what a difference new shocks makes, no more clunk! clunk! clunk! when travelling. We just need to get the rear shocks done at Quartzsite.

We made it back to Blythe for 2 days so that we could empty the holding tanks and refill everything for our trip to Quartzsite this week. We will be heading out today for another rally with most of the same friends we were with in Indio. They are great and lots of fun.

We will also be meeting up with some other friends from Alberta. They are parked a half mile down the road, so we will be dropping in to see them while they are in the area.

Busy, busy, busy!

Man oh man, it really is true. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. I love my wife , but she obviously is really busy because she has not taken a turn at updating the Blog. Now, I know that I am going to hear about this, but, I gotta be me.

We got the flooring all done in the Park Model and it looks great. It shows the dust really easy, but you just keep it dusted.

Sue went with her friend and delivered her husband to the airport. Then, on black Friday, he was scheduled to come back. So, the girls got up early and headed back to Phoenix. They were going to do some shopping before Bob got back at 2:30. Well, Bob phoned and said he missed his connecting flight in Detroit because he spent some time with Immigration. Bob's flight arrived at 6:30, so the girls had an extra 4 hours of shopping. We kidded Bob that he was walking funny (you gotta love them body cavity searches) when he finally got here.

Before the return to Phoenix, about 10 women from the park had gone to Bells (Bealls) for a 95% off day. One lady had about two shopping bags full and was pulling out her credit card to pay when the cashier said that will be $4.47 please. Oh heck, I can afford to pay cash was her comment.

We had an excellent Thanksgiving Dinner with about 170 of our neighbors.

We went for a day trip to Yuma and saw Beth and Chris (Sue's gourding girlfriend). They have bought a house in Caldwell, Idaho and will be spending their summers there rather than traveling. So, they are going to give up their rental house in Yuma and live in their Motor Home in the winter. Just like normal winter folk.

December just flew by and it was Sue's birthday, then Christmas. Again, we had dinner with about 160 of our neighbors and food was great. Sue made some candied yams for our table to supplement the vegetables done by the social committee.

New Years eve had the comedy duo of Bernie & Red performing. This is the third time that we have seen them perform, and they still keep us laughing so hard we get tears. We hung around after the performance to see the New Year come in and then headed home. We were planning a desert run in the morning.


There were a total of 4 buggies and one jeep.



We got out there and set up a little day camp because we were going to have a BBQ wieners.


Before lunch, we went out a couple of times, The first time out, I got stuck, but was able to back up and continue on. The second time out, I was going to go left off the top of one dune and all of a sudden, the buggy went right. Stuck! I tried to back up, but only succeeded in showering myself with sand. I was high centered. Sue got out of the car and had to hang on because she was sliding down the hill in the soft sand. On the radio and asked for help and a shovel. Bob and John went back and picked up the shovel. This is the second attempt to get me out. You can see some ruts in the sand where Bob dug down and we had to pull him out to try again.


This didn't work to well. as you can see by the flying sand.


We need Bob to change positions again, but he needed to disconnect first.


I think it was about the 5th try that I finally got pulled off the sand. We played abit more and then went back for lunch.

After lunch, Bob and Jeanette went for a run. The people that did not get stuck were the ones without the sand tires. I guess they made Bob and I too confident.


As you can see, at least he was not to far from camp.


All in all, it was a good day. We all got home safe and sound, tired and dusty.

Well, that did not last. Here it is two weeks later and no updates.

We did get the motor home washed and it looked really good.

We spent a busy week hosting the rally at the Bakersfield RV Resort.




Everyone enjoyed themselves and it looks like we will be going back.

We spent the day after the rally relaxing at the resort. The next day, Friday, we headed out to Blythe. We stopped in Redlands at one of the rally seminar presenters company and have ordered new blinds for the front of the motor home.

Then, on to Blythe. We arrived about 4:20 and parked the motor home.

We had ordered soft water installed, but they were not available until Monday, so we stayed in the coach.

On Monday, we also went down town to look at flooring for the Park Model. So much for moving in. Tuesday, all the furniture got moved out and Wednesday morning, new flooring started to go in. The phrase "If your out door furniture used to be your indoor furniture, You might be a Red Neck" really came into play. It looks like tomorrow, Friday, we should be able to move the furniture back in. We should be able to start enjoying the Park Model then.

Sue is off tomorrow with one of our friends and headed over to Phoenix. The husband, Bob, is flying to Quebec to see his grand children. Jeanette did not want to drive in Phoenix and wanted someone to go with her. Sue volunteered.

Not much else is happening (as if this has not been enough) right now, so I will sign of again. Maybe we can update sooner.