Golfin' In The Rain

"Yes RV, we must go home, we can't stay here forever," says Jim to RV last Sunday morning.  We left Ruidoso last Sunday at 6:40am (Tucson time) and made it to just east of Benson before we hit a rain storm. It wasn't too bad but of course got the RV all nice and dirty again. We got the RV back in the barn and all tucked in by 1pm to let it rest up for its next run probably not for another 4 months.

We decided to play golf this Friday because the forecast was little chance of rain versus Sat. a big chance of rain. So we headed to Forty Niner Golf Course for a cheap ($19/ea) round of golf. Almost finished the 9th hole (following behind some quite slow players) when the sky decided to let loose. We headed up to the clubhouse and saw all the slow players taking refuge from the rain under cover, so we braved the rain and played hole #10 to get ahead of every one. Then we had to find cover under trees to wait out the rain thinking it would last only a short time. After about 15 minutes it slowed a bit so teed off on #11, then started to rain hard again - again we found cover under the trees (thankfully there are a lot of trees on the course). Waited again - then was able to hit our second shot then wait out the rain again.

The storm lasted probably a total of 45 minutes then we were home free. Finished up at the clubhouse  bar for our free draft beer that comes with the golf. Such a deal. Usually the beer tastes great after a hot, dusty round of golf, but not as great after a cool, soggy round of golf. But the pizza we ordered  with the bottle of red wine was more to our liking.

 All in all a great day even with the unpredicted rain that got us quite wet. But we did mostly dry off after it stopped. From now on I will be bringing our rain jackets this time of year even with the forecast of no rain.

Inbetween Rain Storms

Thursday at 2pm it quit raining, so off we went to the golf course and teeing off on #1 by 2:30. Had a few sprinkles in the 2 1/4 hours it took us to play. Needless to say there was not anyone in front of us, we just zoomed through and ended up with a fair game, but enjoyable none the less.

Our evenings consist of sitting around the fire pit enjoying a glass (or two) of wine while taking in all the peaceful scenery. Wait - where is everyone?

Oh here is the better half enjoying the cooler temps in front of the fire.

Friday after cleaning off another portion of the coach and taking our short hike on the trail, we headed to this little trail by the river in town. It's a great trail, but only .65 miles long so only 1.3 miles round trip. 

I got a bear hug along the way.

They called this a river, but it looks more like a creek to me.

Just as we finished our walk a thunderstorm went through with a pretty good downpour. Glad we didn't get caught out in that. We walked around town looking in shops, nothing spectacular, then after a hamburger for lunch we decided that it was still possibility of rain so no golf yet. Headed off to the local casino to check that out. We walked out of the casino after 3 1/2 hours $164 richer from the fruit of our labors. Not a bad days work for having fun. 

Today (Sat.) we finished cleaning the RV and put the dirty towels in the washer while we went for our walk. Now just waiting for the towels to dry before we get to start our day. Of course rain is predicted again today, so will need to play it by ear (or feel) if we can get a round of golf in this afternoon. If not, we will figure something out - there is an art festival going on, so might take that in. It's just so nice enjoying the cooler weather, it doesn't matter that we do something or not.

Our play time will be over with tomorrow morning when we head back to Tucson. Hopefully we will get back without going through a rain storm.

Along for the Ride

RV needed to stretch its legs and go for a nice long run after being cooped up in the barn since April 23, so Jim & Linda decided to go along for the ride. On Wed. late morning, RV headed east on I10, barely missing a thunderstorm just outside of Bensen, but had a smooth gallup all the way to Las Cruces where RV stopped to fill up on some oats (diesel). Back heading east on I10 RV had to slow to a trot to get through a wind and dust storm, then got back up to a gallup when headed north on I25. But once RV headed east on Hwy 70 RV slowed to a walk to get through a downpour. After about 10 miles of rain, RV increased back up to a gallup continuing going east and eventually climbing a mountain. After slowing for a small town, RV finally slowed down and turned into Ruidoso Motorcoach Ranch and found a cozy stall in the stable and settled in for the next 3 days to let Jim and Linda play.

Since we got in the "stall" at 6:55pm after we set up there wasn't much time to unwind before eating dinner and heading off to bed. Dinner was simple, beef stew in the crock pot that cooked on the way over.

This morning we woke to beautiful 62 degrees and blue skies. After breakfast, we took off for a little walk on the trail around this property. We shared the trail with the natives, a herd of about 6 deer, one buck with horns with his females following him. Was a short trail, but nice. The park only has 29 stalls, so quite small, but quite nice. Each space has a little patio with a gas fire pit.

Then we hopped in the car to check out the golf course just down the road, but they have a tournament going on, so no go there. Then into town to check on 2 others. Decided we would head back to the RV to clean up the Lincoln up after the rain storm yesterday and pick up the rain jackets to play golf after 1pm.

About noon the thunderstorms decided to move in, so grilled a couple of hamburgers for lunch and indulged while waiting for it to maybe clear up. So we are in a holding pattern waiting for the rains to leave the area (probably not for today). We'll see.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

MCC End of Season

We made our last trip for the season to MCC in Indio, left Tucson last Thurs (4/13) and have been enjoying beautiful weather up until yesterday when it decided to get hot (in the upper 90's). Our days consisted of a 3 mile morning walk, chores/reading, lunch, golf, after golf thirst quenching beer, boat cruise, dinner at the restaurant (tonight we will use up our balance for the year), retire then start all over again the next day.

The evenings are just fabulous and we usually went for a little boat cruise after dinner on our way back to the RV (we take the boat to go to the restaurant).

We've just been hanging out at the resort stuck in our busy schedule as I explained above until yesterday when it got hot, so decided to go up the mountain to a small town Idyllwild. We've been there before and it's a cute little mountain town, at about 20 degrees cooler than down in the valley. Of course we got there just in time to grab a burger at our favorite spot - The Saw Mill Cafe.

Jim caught me in the middle of my 1/2 lb mushroom burger.

Here is a picture of one section of the town looking towards the mountains. We walked around and browsed through all the tourist gift shops, lots of gems, minerals, jewelry and t-shirts.

Today we got everything put away and ready to leave early tomorrow morning. Won't be back until November. I'll be glad to get back to Tucson where it's a bit cooler than the 99 degrees it's at right now. Needless to say, we are watching NBA from inside our coach where it's cool.

Until our next trip - whenever and wherever it will be!

Chris's Memorial and Catchup

We enjoyed our week in Indio - the weather was great (except for a few days the wind blew a little bit too much), the golf was enjoyable (mostly) and the evening cruises were quite pleasant (except for one evening we decided to take the boat out in gale force winds - a few laughs).

Here is a turtle that lives in our waters. It doesn't look like a desert tortoise, but cute anyways.

We went to the restaurant for lunch and dinners everyday except Tues when they are closed to make a dent in the $2800 amount we need to spend. Did a pretty good job with spending $1500 of that. We didn't want restaurant food for awhile after that. But we need to go back again to finish up before April 30th when they close for the season. Our trip back to Tucson on 4/2 was uneventful just like we like it. Here we are enjoying one of our evening cruised before dinner.

While we were gone on 3/27 the Chris Moon memorial at Cherry Field in Tucson was uncovered during a ceremony, which unfortunately we missed. So Jim and I went down the Cherry Field this last Sat. to see the memorial. It is a very impressive. Here is a link to an article in the Tucson paper http://tucson.com/statue-honoring-chris-moon-a-labor-of-love/article_7318c5aa-1727-11e7-b82e-53d1f27bb746.html  I hope this link works. If you enlarge the picture below you probably can read the inscription.

 As you can see with Jim standing next to Chris' statue, it is full size. Everyone involved in this project worked many hours to see this happen. It is very well done and very impressive.

 Sunday we made a visit to the Desert Museum since it was a bit cooler to walk around. Had a nice, enjoyable time walking through all the exhibits and of course the flowering plants were the best part. I still don't know how a thorny cactus can have such beautiful flowers.

 A lot of the flowers were dried up already, but this one area was a beautiful display of different varieties. Stopped and had lunch at the restaurant enjoying a great salad before finishing up the tour around the grounds. It was a pleasant 3 hours on a Sunday morning.

First Trip to Indio this Season

We finally are at our lot in Indio, first trip for this season. (It was last August the last time we had the RV out for a spin). Wanted to come over Christmas week, but just not warm enough, but now the weather is perfect. Finally got out of Tucson a little after 1:30pm on Friday after getting new tires put on the RV. After nine years it was time to change out the tires.  Heading west towards California, the traffic wasn't too bad until we got to about 43 miles east of Indio where the traffic just stopped. It took us about 45 minutes longer to get through road construction. All the backup for getting traffic to merge into one lane. But we made it by 8:45pm.

 We spent out first day cleaning out the casita and setting up, then lunch at the restaurant and golf in the afternoon then dinner at the restaurant. We did play pretty good considering the wind was blowing hard and it's been quite awhile since we have played. The view from our lot is still just as beautiful as before. For the next week we will be enjoying some gorgeous weather, golf and good food at the restaurant. The only night we will have to cook will be Tues. It's almost like being back on the cruise ship with all this wonderful food.

Repair Time

We took off Friday afternoon for our every other year trip to get the RV serviced. The first leg of the trip brought us to Las Cruces for overnight, then on the our favorite restaurant!

The Big Texan in Amarillo.

 This time we were able to get a table in the balcony for a view of the whole restaurant.

Then on to Miami, OK to get all the issues taken care of on the RV. We even accumulated more issues on our drive there. I don't think there is a time where everything works properly (well, life would be boring if it did). Hopefully we will only be here a couple of days to get everything fixed, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Most Beautiful Day

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, temps in the mid 70s, no wind and abundance of sunshine.

The days leading up to yesterday were not as nice, overcast and dreary, and only in the 60s. We've been playing golf everyday except for Monday we went and bowled 6 games (I finally remembered to bring our bowling balls along). 

The day being so nice, Jim uncovered the boat and cleaned it up a bit.

Nope, he didn't fall in the water. After a round of golf, we took the clean boat out for a spin around the canal.

Rounding out the beautiful day we enjoyed pasta night at the restaurant. Today promises to be another great day, albeit a bit cooler.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Annual Holiday Trip

We pulled out of Tucson Thursday at 11 a.m on our trek over to Indio for the holidays. We had a wonderful family dinner Wednesday evening for our Christmas gathering, and it was great that the whole family was able to be there. 

Arrived at our lot just after sunset on Thursday, but the sun sets here at early at 4:30 PST, got set up and headed directly to the restaurant for a prime rib dinner.  Friday the motor home got washed and boy was it dirty after close to 5,000 miles. Got the lot set up for occupation on the patio as we grilled chicken at home and watched basketball Friday evening.

The temps here are in the mid to high 60s, so not too bad but the nights get cold. The refrigerator in the casita is having a bit of a problem, so we had a repair person look at it. They need to order parts which will take longer than we are here for, so will need to call ahead of the next time we come to order before we get here. As for now, it will limp along. Saturday after watching the UA football game, we went out for our first round of golf, then headed up to the restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant is nicely decorated for the holidays.

Jim goes for his 6+ mile walk in the mornings while I go for my bike ride. This is the only way we can keep the weight from creeping up to much with all the good food. We just got off the golf course and enjoying a beer before we head up to the restaurant again tonight.

Last Day in Washington

Yesterday (Friday) was another beautiful day in southern Washington where we are staying, so took off around 9:30am to head towards the Walla Walla area to do (yes, you guessed it) some more wine tasting. Walla Walla area is about 50 miles east of where we are at in Kennewick. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of wines we found (which we purchased several) plus the wineries were all very unique and everyone goes out of their way to accommodate whatever your tastes may be. Here is a winery in an old schoolhouse.

Waterbrook had some outstanding wines and went overboard in their hospitality.

 Of course this time of the year the grapes are about ready to be picked, which makes them so sweet right off the vine.

After tasting at several different wineries, we were done for the day, so headed back to the RV and enjoy a quiet evening on the patio enjoying the beautiful temperatures (I'm getting spoiled with these 80 degree days).

Today is our last day here and didn't really have anything planned, so found a couple of wineries close by (within 6 miles) to pass the time of day. Which we also found some excellent wines in this area. Both Jim and I agree that this area might even be better than Sonoma County, less people, better wines and excellent hospitality.

At Kitzke Cellars, the owner actually took us out into the vineyard to taste the grape of the varietal we were drinking. As I stated, the grapes are so sweet and good, they just pop with flavor. I believe this was their Cabernet Franc.

Here's Jim with the owner. She also told us about a fruit orchard close by that you can pick you own fruit.

So off for an experience of picking peaches and apples.

We picked Gold Medal Peach and Gala Apples, we have a good supply now.

 After our farm duties, we went to our last winery of the day - Goose Ridge.

It was time for lunch, so we sat out on their back patio enjoying the tasting and a cheese/meat/cracker plate, which pared very well with the wines. Had a pleasant, relaxing snack.

I'm glad we got to experience this area of Washington, it is quite pleasant, people are very nice and the wines are excellent. It's been a good stop. But it's moving day again tomorrow to get further southeast on our way back to Tucson.

Columbia Gorge Area

We are at a Columbia Sun RV Park in Kennewick, WA which is semi-close to the Columbia River. It's sorta central for this area wineries - Prosser area, Columbia Gorge and Walla Walla. Landed in our space yesterday around noon after an easy going 200 miles from Issaquah. After setup (which takes us only about 30 minutes) we headed out to experience the wineries in Prosser area, about 25 miles back up the road we came down on. Our first stop was Hogue Winery, which we have had their wines before. We had a pleasant tasting and walked out with several bottles.

 From there we went to Kestrel, which we have never heard of before, but had pleasant wines. Of course Jim liked the most expensive one, so we left with a couple bottles.

 Then onto 14 Hands Winery, which we have also tasted their commonly distributed wine. We opted to taste from their reserve list and ended up with 4 bottles. We did a few more tastings, but nothing else was any good. In fact, it went down hill quite fast, so headed back to the RV for a pleasant evening out on the patio.

This morning we left early for a long day on the road to site see the falls that are about 40 miles east of Portland. Yes we drove about 180 miles one way to see some falls. Call us crazy or what. But the last time we saw these falls was about 3 years ago on a freezing December day when the falls were all frozen, so wanted to view when the water is actually running.

This is the biggest and best falls.

Pictures just don't do it justice.

We drove down the Columbia River on the south side (Oregon) and drove back on the north side (Washington). With all the smoke in the area from all the fires, we were concerned that we would not be able to see Mt. Hood, but the wind picked up today to at times felt like 40mph, and cleared out the air, so we did get a glimpse of the beautiful mountain.

 We stopped at our favorite winery - Cascade Cliffs to purchase a couple of cases of our favorite wine. Well, we did purchase the wine, but little did we know that they have two different Reserve Barbaras, which they gave us the wrong one. When we got back to the RV we checked and found that we purchased the wrong wine. Maybe it's not our favorite winery anymore. Oh well, I'm sure we will suffer through each bottle.

We next stopped at Maryhill Winery, which we enjoyed their wines the last time we were here, but this time, didn't find anything we liked.

Here are some vineyards on the Columbia.

The RV park we are in is quite spacious, which makes it so much nicer. The last park in Issaquah was so tight quarters, I had to move the picnic table to the next lot over so Jim wouldn't run into it driving out of the lot, but then our RV is a "little" bigger than normal RVs.

We are now sitting out on our patio enjoying 80 degree weather with a light breeze having our evening glass of vino. Haven't discussed what we are doing tomorrow, in fact, I'm having a hard time knowing what day it is or what day of the week it is. Only my Apple Watch is keeping me on schedule.