Y-M-C-A (Whittier, That Is....)

As we set off on our walk this morning, Diane suggested that we might enjoy her usual daily route. It's about two miles: east on Trask, north on Harbor, west on Garden Grove, and then south on Newhope back to the lodge (at the intersection of Trask and Newhope). We appreciated seeing all the flowers in bloom, including lots of agapanthus (Lilies of the Nile) in both white and blue. Lots of gardeners cultivate roses in Southern California, and many are now in full bloom.

This evening we went to the Whittier YMCA to Romney's A-2 DBD workshop. On the way we made a quick stop at the nearby Trader Joe's, with the emphasis on quick. Traffic congestion made the trip over longer than we thought.

We had fourteen couples at the Y. We saw old friends, including David Moorhouse and Barbara Lane. David cued the rounds between tips. They will attend AACE in Indianapolis and asked if we would be there.

Bud and Sharon were there. Sharon just came back from Morocco, and she was wearing something from the area, as she usually does.  Joy and Lewis were there. Joy is happily retired. Don and Leslie did all of the round dances. Dale and Norma were there too.

All the tips were on computer except the last no-holds-barred tip. We were lucky to be in it (taking the place of Rick and Bev, who were home sick). Romney called some interesting high level stuff, and most of the dancers were doing quite well. As usual, he named names if anyone turned the wrong way (including yours truly)--all in fun. He has started making a kissing sound when he wants to tease a square that has gone astray, as in "kiss your square goodbye."

We expect to see many of these dancers at Romney's Friday night C-1 dance.

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Back to Garden Grove--2009 Redux

This morning we pulled up stakes again, said goodbye to Golden Village Palms, and headed toward Garden Grove Elks Lodge. We've stayed at this lodge before, but the last time was three years ago, in March 2009. The RV host couple are Diane and Steve. We're set up in site #6. It's a back in with 30 amp electricity and water. Diane showed us how we could use hoses to reach the dump station to drain our gray water (the dump station is nearby, in the middle of the parking lot).

The first thing we did was overload the 30 amp circuit running our main a/c. The electrical management system shut the 110 down. Something confused the thermostat controls. They wouldn't respond. We ended up having to take out the fuse and leave it out for 20 minutes. We realized that the electric water heater was turned on and switched it to LP.  After that we ran the a/c on low and did fine until I made the mistake of putting something  in the microwave. The 110 shut down again, but this time I turned off the a/c quickly and didn't fry the circuit board.

We decided to take Westminster Ave. to Mel's Place for the C-1 workshop tonight. Bad idea. There are lights at nearly every intersection, and we were stopped by most.The traffic was heavy, and we got to the dance hall just after 7:30, so we ended up sitting out the first tip. We made the ninth couple, so two squares were dancing. All the tips were on computer, so everyone got to take a turn sitting out.

Mel's Place has definitely been spiffed up. The walls are painted nicely, and more of the floor is open for dancing. The caller stage is in the back of the hall. Ron and Margie were there and Jim and Pat. We recognized some dancers from our old Monday night crowd, including Fred and Joyce. It was fun dancing to Romney again, but we did have a bit of sticker shock--it's $10 per person at the door now. We're used to paying less than half that in the Valley, but this is Southern California, where it now costs adults $13.50 to see a movie on the weekend.

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Down Time

We celebrated Memorial Day by taking some down time. Golden Village Palms advertizes that you can own a park model home here and "enjoy the resort lifestyle you've always desired." Don't know about the park model, but the hot tub, relaxing music, and the tall, artistically placed palm trees around the pool area did seem to fit the "resort lifestyle."

In fact, there are three pools (lap pool, water volleyball pool, and large relaxation pool) and three hot tubs (with increasing temperatures to suit everyone's preferences).

Swimming around the large pool we discovered a mama duck with five hatchlings. Mom kept hopping out, but the ducklings are very young and too small to make it over the rim of the pool. One resident was trying to scoop them out with a skimmer net. She said that other folks had been trying to help them out earlier, but they kept ending up back in the pool. When we left she was talking about going to get her swimsuit on so she could more easily reach the little ones to scoop them out, with the hope that Mom would take them to bed!

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Diehard Dancing

Ken felt better this morning after resting yesterday evening and a good night's sleep. Both of us are feeling the effects of the desert dryness and whatever is blowing around in the wind. We'll be glad to get someplace with more moisture in the air.

Dancing this morning started at 9:00 a.m. with a half hour of C-1 followed by two hours of A-2 dancing. We actually got to dance to some singing calls, which is rare at higher levels.

From left: Laurie, Mike and Jan Taylor,  Barry, and Myra

From Left: Marshall, Barry, Laurie, Myra, Jan and Mike

Richard and Heidi,Eric, Romney, Ginger, and Steve (Cuer Shirley Ivins on stage)

After the dancing ended, Richard and Heidi and their friends Steve and Ginger came over to see our new coach and talk about RVing. Richard and Heidi are excited at the prospect of buying their first RV and look forward to doing some extended RV travel in the future. Of course they had lots of questions, and we tried to answer their questions as best we could.

We'll be dancing with several of the folks from this weekend during the next week, when we'll be staying in Garden Grove and visiting local dances and workshops. We're hoping to see more of our other dancing friends too.

This evening we went to a local Mexican restaurant, La Fogata, for dinner. We had some excellent chili verde and margaritas. Thanks to Rockintom for the recommendation!
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Dance All Day, Dance All Night

Dancing started with a C-1 session from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. followed by two hours of A-2. After a break for lunch, the next dance session was 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the last hour billed as "tough A-2" (as though most of the sessions weren't challenging!).

Most of the dancing was on the computer (Jerry and Ruth worked hard to keep everything running smoothly). However, all the "tough A-2" sessions were open. The problem for us was that most people had already made commitments to dance in particular squares. We were able to get a square together for the afternoon session, thanks to Les and Carol (from San Diego), who found two other couples to join us. We had a blast--not only because our square did extremely well, but also because everyone had a very positive attitude.

More dancers showed up for the Saturday sessions. We were glad to see Charlie and Lorraine and Richard and Heidi, both Rogues couples. Don and Diane were there from Arizona. We remember them from previous Romney weekends. We danced with some Fun Wuns, including Dave Moyer and Diane Shuey and Jim and Pat Hill, among others. Some people from Trailblazers were there. We also got to meet and dance with many nice folks we hadn't danced with before (or didn't recall)--including some from the Magic Squares of San Diego.

We talked with several people about RVing. In particular, we heard a rather harrowing story of a motorhome door latch that somehow broke inside, making it impossible for even a determined locksmith to open the door. The couple (Bob and Peggy--friends of Les and Carol) were assisted by their neighbors with a ladder as they "broke into" their RV through a window. (The friends were also nice enough to take photos of them with their bottoms sticking out of the window!)

Ken had complained of a scratchy throat and such on Friday, and after the afternoon session, he started to feel worse. We decided that we would dance the 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. C-1 session together, and then he'd go home to rest and I would try to find another partner. Bev's husband, Rick, was also on the sick list, so I asked her if she'd like to dance with me. We danced most of the evening's tips together, and when she was unavailable, I found other partners (mainly people who were "out" for a given tip).

I ended up dancing every tip. I had great partners, and the dancing was challenging and exhilarating. Both Eric and Romney provided interesting choreography, lighthearted banter, and entertaining music.

Of course I missed Ken, but I knew he was happier resting up. When the evening ended, I found him cozily wrapped in a warm throw on the sofa, watching TV.
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Dancing Starts

Our morning walk took us around the park exploring. We had noticed a Shuffleboard Pavilion on the map, and we decided to visit it. It's an imposing building, clearly set up for tournament play, with trophies on display and spectator seating. And of course it's indoors and air conditioned, by far the classiest shuffleboard facilities we've ever seen.

We also stopped by the laundry room. It's clean and has rows of identical looking machines, but it turned out that some of the dryers are labeled for light loads and run for 30 minutes while others cost more and run 40 minutes. Our preference is to have the kind of machines that you can add quarters to for more time rather than a preset time. In the corner of the laundry room we found a display of MCD Innovations shades, with business cards of a local mobile installer.

Rick and Bev came over to tour our new home, which we are happy to show off. Bev especially liked the shades, which certainly beat the pleated kind hands down. After lunch I went out to get a haircut and do some shopping. While I was gone, Ron and Margie stopped by and Ken showed them around.

Dancing this evening started at 7:30 p.m. with half an hour of C-1 called by Romney. We went over to the ballroom a few minutes early to see who was there and say hi. We saw several couples we know, including Barry and Laurie and Marshall and Myra. They dance to Romney in the San Fernando Valley. Les and Carol were there from San Diego. We danced with Paul and Dalya--we haven't seen them since February 2009 in Mesa. From the Rogues we saw Mike and Jan Taylor and Bob and Judy Cheek and Barbara Jones.

Romney plunged us right into non-stop C-1. We realized that after two months away from dancing, we've managed to get a bit rusty, especially on the C-1. I guess we got complacent and didn't review the calls, so we felt a bit embarrassed. We'll have to do some catch up studying before C-1 starts again tomorrow morning.
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Golden Village Palms RV Resort

 We finally got a chance to hike around the perimeter of the park and along the "riparian forest" called out on the map. A flock of crows seemed to take exception to our invading their territory. They were very vocal.

Along the way we passed a pen of small birds, the second one like it we've seen. We decided they must be part of a study. The lady at the gate didn't know much about it, except that they were indeed part of a study. We passed Pelican Lake, the second small lake in the park, and saw lots of folks along the banks fishing. The county stocks several lakes, including this one. Usually Horseshoe Lake is stocked too, but right now the lake is closed and has little water in it pending repair of the dam.

An officer stopped by to talk with us. He mentioned that someone had stolen toilet paper from one of the restrooms and asked if we'd seen anyone last night. We mentioned the two trucks, but of course we hadn't gotten the licence numbers or even a good description. People must be pretty desperate to steal toilet paper from a park.

We pulled out after lunch and headed south to Hemet, where we are attending Romney Tannehill's Memorial Day weekend square dance and hoping to see some of our old friends from Southern California. The dance is being held at Golden Village Palms RV Resort.

We are so proud of ourselves--we finally backed in to a site. It's site #628, a premium site near the clubhouse, which will be very handy for the dancing this weekend.

Shortly after we arrived, Jerry and Ruth Blackmar, old friends from the Fun Wuns, stepped out of their new Cougar in the next site. They look much the same as they did the last time we saw them, except that Jerry has added a goatee to his mustache. They said they had been wine tasting in Temecula today and enjoyed the experience.

After we got set up, we invited them over to do a quick tour, and then we got to see their new fifth wheel, a Cougar, and their new truck, a Ford Super Duty F-250. This is only the third or fourth time they've taken the rig out, and it still looks brand new. The interior wood is cherry. Altogether, it looks perfect for vacation campers like Jerry and Ruth. Bill Eveland made a really nice wooden step for them as an RV warming present.

We also saw Rick Tomkins and Tom Kitchens briefly. Eight squares are registered for the weekend, so we anticipate seeing more old friends tomorrow.
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Work Day

Today was our last day in Victorville. We spent most of it working around the coach. Ken installed and tested the tire pressure monitoring system we bought from Truck Systems Technologies. It was especially difficult to install the monitors on the truck tire valve stems. There was not enough space to include the security locks unfortunately.

We removed everything from the main cargo bay and tried several different arrangements. We have been used to having a sliding cargo tray and a chair storage area in the Excel and a truck box in the Silverado. It's been difficult for us to figure out how to store everything securely and have reasonably easy access to the most used items. The ladder has been a particular concern. We think we've worked something out, but it's an evolving situation.

We also hung some pictures, put together a flower basket for display above our bed, and installed our new atomic clock over the entry door.

We are beginning to get settled. But there have been some unsettling things happening too. Our ceiling fan has a remote control, but it has mysteriously decided several times to come on when no one is pressing the remote. This doesn't seem to coincide with turning anything else on or off, so we are baffled.
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Karate Kid

Cathy had a karate photo session at the Red Dragon Dojo this evening. She's a black belt and helps with some of the classes for younger students. Sensei Cathy is very popular with her young charges.

The outfit she's wearing in this photo is called a karate "gi." She has several in different colors and types.

After the photo session, we all went to the Pizza Factory for supper. Cathy told us proudly that she had passed her DMV test easily.  She still has to wait to begin driving.  Her learner's permit won't be validated until she has had her first Behind-the-Wheel training class. Rebecca figures that altogether it will cost around $400 for fees and classes for Cathy to get her license. She says that some people wait until they are 18 to get a license because then the classes are not required.

Cathy told us about her boyfriend. She's had several, starting with one in preschool. Most of these relationships are pretty short lived. Rebecca says that Cathy is learning a lot about what she likes and doesn't like. She doesn't like mama's boys but does like daddy's boys.

We've seen lots of birds out on our walks. Today we watched two red-tailed hawks wheeling around the air. We've also seen great blue herons flying and killdeer among the rocks. We don't have any photos and nothing to report as colorful as the Painted Buntings that Steve and Jan posted on FB.
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Laundry and Shopping

Not much happening today, so we did our laundry. But on the way we stopped at the Apple Valley Post Office to pick up our General Delivery mail. After standing in line for a while, we finally reached the counter, where a friendly employee told us that our mail had arrived on Saturday and wished us a good day.

Next we stopped at Best Buy to return a "green" surge protector. It came without any instructions, so we didn't realize that the "master controlled" outlets would not be live unless something was plugged into the master outlet and drawing at least 10 watts. This may be a great arrangement when you have a pc plugged into the master and its peripherals plugged into the "master controlled" outlets. It saves energy by shutting down the peripherals when the pc goes to sleep.

However, this setup didn't work for our charging station, where we want to be able to plug in our toothbrushes and battery recharger and shaver and tablet, etc. We actually need something way less high tech--not even a surge protector, since we have a whole house electrical management system--but we do need something with space for transformers.

The Footprints laundromat on Bear Valley Rd. was crowded, several machines were out of order, and the prices were high. We never know what we'll find when we go to an unfamiliar laundromat. The clothes ended up clean anyhow, so that job is done for the week.

This evening we were supposed to pick up Cathy to go to the DMV to take a test for her learner's permit. Cathy ended up not going to school and spending the day with her nana, so Rebecca decided to come home early and drive her.

I wanted to try out the new slow cooker, and I had defrosted some boneless chicken breasts, so I went online and found a recipe for chicken cacciatore made with spaghetti sauce. I had some leftover in the fridge, so that sounded perfect. I put some rice in the microwave, so when we got home Ken made the salad and I fixed the yellow squash and onions, and dinner was on the table. The slow cooker worked very well.

It was twilight when we started our walk tonight. We saw a dark shape moving ahead of us, about the size of a large dog, but not moving like a dog. Both of us immediately remembered that the gate attendant we spoke with yesterday had mentioned a very large bobcat in the park, so we approached with some trepidation. Then a white face turned towards us and we realized it was the calf. Mom was lying down in a depression so we hadn't seen her.

We decided to walk through the horse area to see how far we could get without running into a closed gate. We were able to walk quite far, but we turned back before getting to the "riparian forest" mentioned on the map. We decided to save that for a daylight hike.

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Birthday Dinner

May is both Rebecca and Ken's birthday month. We celebrated both birthdays today by going to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Cathy had some reservations about the Outback, but her bacon and cheddar burger and fries made a fan out of her. We all enjoyed our dinners, and then we shared the yummy Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.

We were interested to note that all restaurant menus in California display calorie counts by each item. This desert has 1,554 calories, but the per serving calorie count is listed as 389. Our server told us that he can eat a whole one himself.

We did some shopping before dinner. We found some of the towels we had been looking for at Bed, Bath & Beyond. After dinner all of us went to the mall. Cathy found a top she really liked and some sandals at the Wet Seal. She also found a Green Bay Packers ball cap for her boyfriend. At Sears, I found a Hamilton Beach 4 quart slow cooker. I've been looking for one the right size, and this one was even on sale. Now I just have to find some good slow cooker recipes and use it a lot to justify the space it will take up.
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Campfire!

Rebecca came out to visit this afternoon while Cathy was at the mall shopping with a new friend. That gave us some time to chat with Rebecca and catch up on what's been happening in her life. She's got a new position as a software product manager at the company she works for. She's also the mother of a freshman in high school, with all the drama that entails. Between her job and family, she doesn't have much time for herself. She's wondering about the possibility of going back to school and pursuing a different career.

At 4:30 p.m. she left to go pick up Cathy at the mall and stop by the grocery store for some graham crackers and marshmallows. You can see where this is going. Ken bought a bundle of firewood at the office. When Cathy arrived, she and Ken collected some kindling and Cathy built the fire.

We had chili, coleslaw, and cornbread for dinner (Cathy doesn't eat chili, but she had eaten at the mall). We watched the movie Up! which Ken had recorded on his laptop. It's one of Cathy's favorites, and we were looking forward to watching it again too.

Afterwards Cathy lit the fire, which burned brightly in the large, well designed fire ring. We had all the fixings for s'mores laid out. I was too impatient to wait for the fire to die down to coals, so my first marshmallow didn't get hot in the center, even though I nearly burned my hands toasting it. While we sat and watched the fire and cooked marshmallows, Cathy was texting her friends and her Uncle Jeff. She played a YouTube clip from Betelgeuse. She definitely belongs to the "hyper connected" generation!

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Visitors

Despite the noisy trains, we slept well. We enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in. By the time we got around to breakfast, it was nearly lunchtime, so we had brunch instead.

We walked around the lake to the dam area, but we couldn't get a close look. A new chain link fence with a keep out sign blocked the way. We were able to see that the lake was not completely dry. It's still at least a wetland, and we saw a water bird swimming about in the weeds.

In the afternoon we went out to do some shopping. We stopped at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, where we hoped to find some microfiber towels like the ones we already have. Unfortunately, they didn't have any, but of course we found some other things, including a nice glass counter protector.

Best Buy happened to be next door, so we stopped in there to check out their surge protectors. They had a 12-outlet Rocketfish with four transformer plugs on sale. We bought it to replace the Belkin we were returning to Target.

Rebecca and Cathy came over for dinner and to see our new home. It was nice outside, so we sat at the picnic table, but the breeze chilled everything so we ended up with cold food. Cathy played several games of chess with her grandpa. Ken won all of them, but Cathy really made him think. She announced that she is persistent, so she's not too discouraged when she loses. They left early, because they have to get up very early for work and school.

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On to Victorville

Our trip from Vegas to Victorville was uneventful. We arrived at Mojave Narrows Regional Park and drove around to select a site. We had been thinking of choosing a site on the edge of the lake, near where we stayed in 2008 when we were just setting out on our full-timing adventure. Horseshoe Lake is being repaired, according to the website. What that means evidently is that the lake is overgrown with weeds and no water in sight.

The upside is that we found a nice pull through space. So far we have not had to back into a campsite yet.

We got set up and hurried to meet Cathy and Rebecca at the Red Dragon Dojo where Cathy had a lesson scheduled. Just as we were approaching the place, we got a call saying that Cathy was too tired and not going to her lesson. So we met them at the parking lot and decided to go to the nearby Subway for supper.

It was really nice to see both of them. Ken flew out to California last March, but the last time I saw them was at Yellowstone in July of 2010.  They have to get up early tomorrow, so we agreed that they would come join us for dinner at our campsite tomorrow.
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Repairs Completed

We took our home over to Johnnie Walker’s again this morning, giving us plenty of opportunity to hang out in their customer lounge. The new sensors arrived via UPS around 10:00 a.m. At that point we decided to go for our morning walk. We were just about to go into Sam’s Town RV Park when Ken got a call from Jeremy. They needed a compartment key to get to the Bigfoot controls, so we hightailed it back to the shop and decided that 30 minutes was enough exercise in that heat.

The service staff were all really nice. They installed the front license plate on the truck and added a bolt to the rear license plate on the coach, so now we are securely legal.

At lunch time, they pulled the coach out of the service bay, so we were able to eat lunch, although it was hot enough outside that we didn’t want to linger with no air conditioning.

We went out after lunch to stop at Albertson’s and to get fuel. On the way south on Boulder Highway, as we passed Sam’s Town, we saw the scene of a fatal motorcycle accident. The victim’s body was covered by a blanket, and the police had the northbound side of the highway blocked off. It gives me a sinking feeling to realize that someone’s life has been cut short in an instant. Ken was relieved to think that Jeff was still at work.

Jeff called and said that he and Tiff had decided they'd rather play cards than go play pool. That was fine with us (I'd actually been a bit apprehensive about showing off my lack of skill/practice). It turned out that Tiff had suggested a new strategy for winning at Play Nine! and they wanted to try it out on us.

She and Jeff actually did improve their games a lot, and Ken did too, but I managed to get through all nine holes with a score of under ten.
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RV Repair

Or is that title redundant? RV="repair vehicle," right? Anyhow, the alarm woke us at 5:30 a.m. We had a 7:30 a.m. appointment to take the coach in for some repairs. Fortunately, the RV service center, Johnnie Walker RV, is almost right across the highway from the park we are staying in, so it wasn't a long trip.

The main concern was the ABS sensors. Jeremy, our service writer, was consulting with Alan at Tuson about this. They decided that we needed to replace all four sensors, which are being overnighted, so we'll go back tomorrow to get them installed. The UPS delivery is around 10:00 or 10:30 a.m., so at least we won't be getting up early.

Jeremy also consulted with Ken Ulmer at New Horizons about the shade that fell down and the toekick not working. They reinstalled our MCD shades over the dining table, and the shades are both working. However, the frame on the solar shade is bent, so it's a bit tricky getting it past the window handles and the lambrequin. It will need to be repaired or replaced. They also found and fixed a loose connection in the central vac toe-kick, so that's working again.

We were home in time for lunch. After lunch, Ken worked on warranties, and I went shopping. I hit both Big Lots and the 99 Cents Only store--lots of shopping fun.

After dinner we went over to Jeff and Tiffinie's and played the "Play Nine" card game for nine "holes." Ken won by a landslide. Jeff and Tiff said they played in bed last night, but only made it through eight holes before falling asleep.
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Happy Birthday, Ken!

Today is Ken's birthday. Jeff and Tiffinie celebrated by taking us to the Lindo Michoacan in Henderson, just south of Vegas. The views are spectacular, and the food was very good too. The restaurant sits on a bluff overlooking the valley, so we could see the lights of Vegas laid out before us.

The wait staff serenaded Ken in Spanish and tossed a shot of tequila in his mouth. They presented him with these churros with a candle and invited him to make a wish. He shared the churros.
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Happy Mother's Day

We had an enjoyable day today with Jeff and Tiffinie. Tiff drove us to Lake Las Vegas in her Scion. We walked around and checked out the little shops. Then we stopped in at Auld Dubliner Irish Pub for a drink and snack.

Lovely Mother's Day flowers from Jeff and Tiff

When we got backto the house, the pot roast that Jeff was cooking in his new crock pot was not quite done to his satisfaction, so we played cards for a while. We taught them how to play "Play Nine," also called Golf.

The pot roast turned out very tender and delicious. It was only the third that Jeff has ever fixed, and he is honing his technique. He bought a new crock pot so he'd have one large enough to hold the roast.

I received calls from Chris and Uncle Jesse and Edward and Annie and Terri wishing me a happy Mother's Day. It was good to hear from all of them. When Ed called, Cate and Sam talked with me too.
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Feast and Impressions

Jeff and Tiffinie invited us to come over around noon today. When we arrived, Pink came out to greet us. He’s getting older, but he still loves attention. We also got to see Dottie and Poofy Kitty, Tiff’s dog and cat.

Our first mission was to go to the Riviera, where Jeff had to exchange the coupons he won/promoted for tickets to a comedy show tonight. This also gave us a chance to check out the location of the theater and the best route to get there from the parking garage.

Once that mission was accomplished, we went to the Rio for the San Gennaro Feast. This is billed as a celebration of the semi-annual liquefaction of the blood of the patron saint of Naples, Italy. The saint is prominently displayed in the advertising. However, the feast is clearly a secular occasion, with lots of food booths, other vendors, and rides.

We managed to find something to eat. I had my first Philly cheesesteak. The roll was excellent, but I don’t think I’ll need to try another such sandwich.

Tonight Tiffinie and Jeff picked us up for a trip to the Riviera. When we got there, the parking garage was full. Tiff wended her way back down to valet parking, but it had a FULL sign too. She pulled to the side and went to talk with someone in the valet service about where to park. She managed to sweet talk the guy into parking the car.

When we got to the theater, we were actually the first ones in line, and the previous show had not yet let out. We got good seats—but the venue was small enough that there weren’t really any bad seats.

The show we were seeing was Jonathan Clark, a Lasting Impression. We had all expected that the show would be mainly a comedy routine. Clark was funny, but the main focus of the show was vocal impressions. Clark's energy, comic timing, and great impressions made for a really entertaining show. He worked his just two-year-old son into the show--a real cutie who looks just like his dad, with even the same haircut.

Clark moved from one character to another quickly, changing his costumes and voices in the twinkling of an eye. His impression of Ray Charles was especially good. Of course, he sang just brief passages from the various singers’ well known hits. The backup band and the set and lighting contributed to the entertainment. All in all, it was a very enjoyable show, and we’re glad that Jeff managed to promote four tickets to it.
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Brakes and Dinner Guests

We got a call from Alan at Tuson. He had spoken with the service department at Johnny Walker RV, which is on Boulder Highway, practically across the street from the park we're staying at. Their first service opening is next Tuesday, so we plan to be there with truck and trailer, waiting to be first in line.

We spent some time being frustrated by jobs that didn't seem to be working out too well. We tried to take down the wooden frame around the fluorescent lights in the galley ceiling to see why one of the tubes is not lighting. But one of the screws holding it up is set at an angle and stripped. We decided to wait and ask Johnny Walker service to help us out with that. We're also having difficulty finding hardware to install the new license plates.

Jeff and Tiffinie came over for dinner around 5:30 p.m. We had lasagna, asparagus, and salad. The lasagna was the first I had made with whole wheat noodles. That didn't work as well for me as whole wheat penne or spaghetti, so the results weren't what I had hoped--but still okay. It's hard to totally ruin lasagna. For dessert we had cherry pie with Blue Bunny vanilla ice cream.

Our guests left around 7:00 to go to a church meeting they've started to attend. The pastor brings in motorcycle culture, which definitely appeals to Jeff and Tiffinie. We took advantage of the opportunity to do some of our walking in more moderate temperatures.

Later Ken got a call from Jeff asking if it would be okay to come over. He said "sure," but we didn't know what to expect--perhaps a change of plans? It turned out that Jeff had learned from a Facebook posting that his biological father had died. Although this was a man who left the family before Jeff was even born, a man whom Jeff had never seen, nonetheless he felt something. He turned to Ken, the only dad he has ever known, for support.
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On to Vegas

When we were ready to pull out this morning and head to Vegas, we called Alan at Tuson. We needed to be hitched up so that he could walk us through some diagnostic routines and reset the brake controller to turn off ABS. The conclusion was that the readings seemed to be as expected, except for the warning messages saying that the sensors were dead. Alan said that he would find a good service center in Las Vegas and work with them to get things corrected.

Along the way to Vegas, we pulled off an exit to change drivers. We pulled over in a wide space by the road, where some other vehicles were stopped. When Ken turned the truck to go back towards the highway, the driver side of the coach overhang impacted the truck bed rail, just as we had feared. Ouch!!! There was a pretty mild depression in the pavement, but it was enough that when the truck was moving upwards, the coach was still moving downwards.

Fortunately, the damage was minimal. A quarter sized patch of paint was scraped off the coach, and a minor indentation was made in the truck bed rail. This episode is confirmation that we will definitely need to have the truck bed removed and replaced by an RV hauler body.

In mid afternoon, we arrived at Road Runner RV Park, where we stayed the last time we were in Vegas. It has reasonable rates, paved sites, and full hookups. Its greatest advantage for us is that it is close to Jeff's condo.

Jeff and Tiffinie stopped by for a while in the evening. They were on Jeff's new motorcycle. It's a very well equipped Honda. In fact, it has a NAV system and a heater. He was proud to show it off to us, and he talked about plans to install some black lights.

We showed them around the coach, and they were properly admiring.

Jeff talked a lot about a presentation he made recently on safety to a group of GM managers. Tiffinie went along to provide feedback. Jeff was happy to report that he had been able to field all the questions the group had for him. Tiff was very supportive, telling us what a good speaker Jeff is.
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Dancing and Exploring

This morning Dennis and Cheryl picked us up again, this time to join them at their regular Wednesday square dance workshop. Caller Dwayne and his wife Shauna greeted us warmly. All the dancers made us feel very welcome.

We had six couples, so we tagged in and out, with everyone getting to dance quite a bit, since Dwayne didn't take many breaks himself. As Dennis and Cheryl had promised, Dwayne called an interesting and challenging dance, with some innovative positioning. We had lots of fun, as usual. Everyone was refreshingly open, and there was lots of discussion of the concepts Dwayne was working, including Beaus an Belles.

Afterwards we went to Subway and got some sandwiches for lunch. Then we went on to Costco, where our friends gave us a chance to pick up a few things we needed. We took the food home and stashed it before we all drove out to Snow Canyon State Park.

The views were spectacular, but it was extremely hot in the afternoon sun, so we didn't do much hiking. We did walk out onto the petrified sand dunes. The lines make fantastical patterns, ancient winds now frozen in rock. We saw a group from the nearby Red Mountain Spa out doing yoga on the dunes.

We drove over to Coyoto Gulch Art Village to visit with Joe Viers, who was tending shop at Zia Pottery, where he is one of the principal artists. He treated us to some iced coffee drinks at the Cafe, and we had a chance to chat. Unfortunately, he and Chris were not able to join us for dinner, since they had an HOA meeting to attend.

We went to the Pizza Factory and had some delicious hand-tossed pizza for dinner. Cheryl got the veggie, which looked like a great combination, even including broccoli.

At the end of the day we went back to Temple View and settled in to get a good rest before traveling tomorrow.

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Kolob Canyon at Zion National Park

Dennis and Cheryl picked us up in their Honda CRV for a trip to the Kolob Canyon section of Zion National Park. We had visited the main section of the park two years ago when we traveled with them to several of Utah's great parks.

As usual, the scenery was spectacular. The quiet and the grandeur of the place seemed to steep us in serenity, like taking a deep breath and feeling the stillness of the earth. Dennis stopped at several photo ops, and we ended up at the Timber Creek trailhead. Surrounded by towering cliffs and rock formations, we set out along the one mile round trip trail, which led to a panoramic view. We walked back down the trail and stopped at the picnic area to eat our sandwiches.

The weather was a bit changeable, with cool winds and shade chilling us at first, but then the sun came out and the weather was mild for our hike and lunch. Our timing was good, because the clouds closed in again soon afterwards.

Kolob Canyon majesty

Kolob Canyon scene

Along the Timber Creek Trail

Picnic lunch in Kolob Canyon

Afterwards we went to one of the St. George city parks, Pioneer Park. Overlooking Red Hills Parkway and the city of St. George, it offers a chance to tackle a bit of rock scrambling. Dennis was the most adventurous of the group, as usual.

Pioneer Park

Then we stopped at Harmon's for some quick groceries, including strawberries on sale. Our friends dropped us off at home to rest and freshen up a bit. I took advantage of the chance to at least knock some of the bugs off the front cap that had collected over the last few days of travel. I was able to make a fair swipe using a long telescoping brush, but I was only able to reach the lower part with a microfiber cloth to get it really clean.

Then we drove over to Sun River, where Dennis and Cheryl live, to join them for a barbecue dinner.  We sat on their patio and shared some cabernet and the great view. Dennis grilled the chicken breast kabobs. The zucchini and potato medley in foil went in the oven. Cheryl got the recipe from a cookbook of foil cookery she found at Camping World. Everything was delicious. Afterwards we had French vanilla ice cream with strawberries and blueberries for dessert, along with plenty of good conversation.

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Salina to St. George

We started out today planning to stop in Leeds, but talking to Dennis and considering our options, we ended up deciding to stay in St. George at Temple View RV Park. The only real advantage is that it's much closer to Dennis and Cheryl's house, so we'll save the time and fuel that driving back and forth would cost us. Dennis and Cheryl came over to visit, so we got a chance to show off our new home.
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Mountain Driving

We left Frisco this morning and headed out for a long day's drive, winding our way through canyons and along rivers. The early part of the trip in Colorado took us through ski country, where chalet style condos fill the valleys and evergreens march in rows up the mountainsides.

Later we said goodbye to "Colorful Colorado" and traded snowy mountains for imposing rock formations and barren expanses. We saw expansive views of salt flats and red rocks. Two long stretches warned of no services for 60 and 100 miles.

When we stopped for lunch, we discovered that one of our large MCD double shades had fallen from the ceiling, leaving shiny screws sticking out of the mount and three small holes in the slide ceiling. We put a tablecloth over the window so we wouldn't feel like we were living in a fishbowl.

We had planned to stay in one of the view areas between Green River and Salina, but since our solar and alternator are not charging the batteries, we went on to a commercial park in Salina. The Butch Cassidy RV Park must be very tight when it is full, since the sites are side by side, but we have the full width of both sites to ourselves, so no problem.

We walked around the park, seeing the usual RV spaces and some permanent residents in park models and small mobile homes. We also saw some things more out of the ordinary, like a troop of unusual bunnies that evidently have the run of the park. Exotic birds catch the eye with colorful plumage. Antiques and collectibles are everywhere. Our walk took us over some terrain that obviously invites off roaders, as the deep ruts attest. We spotted several large deer enjoying the greenery in a nearby field.

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