Thursday, October 15, 2009

On I-10, close to Palm Springs, California. Lots of wind farms.



There were several balloons drifting up into the sky over West Santa Rosa, just as we arrived.



Pat's brother Richard, his wife Alice, and Pat's mother now live in this house in Santa Rosa. Half acre lot, there is a huge shop in back, as well as a glass walled weather tight gazebo, many fruit trees and garden plot.


A little Ground Gecko, he was living under the trailer that was moved out today. Cute litte thing.


A Ground Gecko doesn't have the large of suction cups on their little feet as the "tree" or "wall" Gecko.

There it is! Our new door. Pat wants to get new blinds, she thinks these are too short. And, someone is coming in tomorrow to stretch and tack the carpet. I like the white vinyl, it makes the room lighter.



The sliding door is the main entry. The screen is gone, and the rollers are shot. Also the bottom track is worn out. Today it will be replaced.



Victor is a carpenter that works for "Two Girls and a Hammer". They are contractors that work for Home Depot and Lowes here in Yuma.



The opening had to be enlarged, wider and higher. Victor did a fine job.



Melissa and Julie. She is half of the Two Girls. She stopped by to check the job and answer questions.



Sunrise on Sunday Nov 22, 2009. Over Yuma, AZ. I counted 22 balloons, there probably were more. The colors were beautiful after the sun got up a little higher.



I'm out in Dome Valley. This Egret was standing in the water of the Gila Levee.


Lots of harvesting machines in the lettuce fields. Sunday afternoon, the operators were doing maintenance on them.



This is why it's called Dome Valley. My favorite, Castle Dome, is a little farther North, can't see it from this angle.



A small feed lot, and slaughter house out in the middle of "no where".



Nice sign. I think the Saguaro Skeleton was probably still alive when the sign went up.



Some people probably have never seen so much "green" in the middle of the desert. All it takes is a little water. Some from the Gila, most from the Colorado.


Look familiar? I get all excited when I see this old Sherman. Feeling the bullet marks gives me all kinds of mind pictures. I'm glad it made it all the way from the German front to the Proving Grounds North of Yuma.



If I was the enemy, and looked up and saw this US Army chopper from this angle, I'd figure it was all over!



The Mighty Colorado River. Standing on the California side, I tried to throw a rock to Arizona. My old, weak arm, only made it a little over half way....back in the day,.........:-)



Big old cactus near Laguna Dam. There is a nice little RV park here.



A fun place to stop.



They say they have over a hundred pieces of antique machinery here.



Stewey is thinking about a touring bike. maybe he should restore this, take off a couple of wheels, and rig it up with a comfortable seat! :-)



The Bard Community Building. We've been going here on Friday nights since we discovered it last year. Lots of old time Gospel, some bluegrass, a little Country. Some interesting instruments, and so are the people that play them!



Paradise Casino. The smallest of the 3 near Yuma.



Ocean to Ocean Bridge. On the completion of this bridge (can't remember the year, I think late 20's or early 30's), you could drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific without having to take a ferry to make any of the crossings. It was the last crossing to have a bridge that you could drive over.



Some of the buildings at the Yuma Territorial Prison.



Cell blocks. The Prison has a great self guided tour. Highly recommended, lots of interesting history here. Can you imagine 4 to 6 people in these little cubby holes when the temp reached 120 plus degrees? Or, sometime as low as freezing in the Winter. This is just a very small part of the cell block.



The Apache Hotel was finished in 1919. It has 28 rooms. My next door neighbor lived here for several years, his ex-wife inherited it. He has lots of stories about the place. It's not open for business now.



Mural in Downtown Old Town.



I'm going to see if I can make a deal the owners to see if we can us this for the Kaw Pasture next March for the VROC run here. :-)



I LOVE Bougainvillea, and this little city if full of them. This bush is right outside the Lynda Vista were we live.



A small part of the Dessert table at the Lynda Vista Thanksgiving Dinner today. Pat brought that Italian Cream cake, the Deep dish Caramel Pecan Apple pie, and a Deep dish Pumpkin that didn't even get used. There was lots of things to eat. I cut the cake and didn't even lick the knife. None of those "empty calories" for me! :-)



Some of "The Boys" from the park. Wives are across from them.



A Date Palm orchard in Bard, CA, about 5 miles from Yuma, AZ. My first nice ride on "Thumper", a big single cylinder 650 Savage



Different kinds of lettuce and other green vegetables are always growing. As soon as one crop is harvested, something different goes in.



Laguna Dam on the Colorado. I'm standing on the California side, that's Arizona across the river.



A Sherman Tank. (the one with the tracks, not the one with 2 wheels)



You can click on any picture to enlarge it. On this one, it's easy to see the bullets dents on the side. This tank was in heavy combat in Germany during WW2.



The US Army Proving grounds has an outside museum of tanks and other weapons, both old and new. It's very interesting.



A long range gun. Some of you deer hunters could probably use one of these babies!



A small chapel that a farmer built in 1996, in honor of his wife of 40 years. It's always open, nice place for a time of meditation. Every Easter, there is a sunrise service here on the a little hill that you can't see in this picture.



There are 6 pews, each will sit 2 people, closely. Up on the front wall is the Lord's Prayer, and a Farmer's prayer. It's spotless clean, and nice inside.



Several Fruit stands along Hwy 95. I didn't have much carrying room, but brought home 6 nice oranges, and I bought a very sweet persimmon which I ate on the spot.



Cauliflower, it grows very tall. I went 60 some miles this morning, it was a pleasant ride, and the bike performed flawlessly.
Probably won't get used much now that it's finished, it's main use will be to carry behind the Minnie Winnie when we're on trips.


This is how I felt before starting on the Nutrisystem diet.



Saturday morning, Nov. 14, 2009. Pulled the seat, tank, and carburetor, and all related parts.



Little "Thumper is in pieces" right now.



The Christmas Cactus is looking good! This plant LOVES the AZ weather!



Check the slide and diaphram in the upper right corner. The slide was stuck in the carb body. Cleaned out the jets with an Insulin Syringe, worked real well. Lots of varnish and goo in side the carb.



All back together and near a lettuce field down by the Border at San Luis. The bike is running strong now. More parts are on the way, and I ordered new tires and a windshield. Another week, and it should be ready for a good long run for a final test.




There are millions of heads of lettuse in Yuma County. As well as cabbage, broccoli, Cauliflower, and other vegetables..and Citrus fruit too.



Saw this Kobalt Stainless Steel tool chest in Lowe's today, and was admiring it. Pat said it was close enough to my birthday, so she bought it for me! Now I need to start saving "stickies" to cover the top.


My little 28' x 7.5' shop in Yuma. That's NOT oil on the floor, a bottle of car wash broke and I haven't cleaned it up yet.



Almost organized. The drawers came with nice linings, and the they roll in and out like riding on air..Jimmy Johnson isn't my favorite NASCAR driver, but I like his choice of tools :-)



Mario, our park gardener and maintenance man has been trimming some of the citrus trees in the park. Pat ran out and snatched some of these green oranges in hopes they will ripen




We brought this Christmas Cactus down from Coos Bay. It already has 4 beautiful flowers on it! And it's not even Christmas!



Tony D. visited us today, he brought out a couple of turn signals for "Thumper". Just a little ride of around 400 miles for him. We ate lunch at The Happy Greek Chef restaurant in Old Town Yuma. I had a 1/2 chef salad, only I've had all week what wasn't NutraSystem.. The food was good!



It was fun visiting with Tony. He's lookin' good, and feeling a lot better healthwise than he was last summer. Was good to see him back to his old happy self!



It had cooled down, only 88 degrees today. I don't understand these guys that wear so many clothes when it's so warm...He even showed up in his new First Gear electric jacket liner! Maybe when I've lived in Arizona as long as Tony, I'll need more clothes. My riding gear is a t-shirt :-)


This one's for Susan! Tony is trying to be a buzzard killer too! His windshield was a little dirty. He said he cleaned it before leaving for Kentucky last June! I would have volunteered to clean it, but didn't want to hurt his feelings.





The "Goodbye" shot. Thanks for coming Tony, we really enjoyed the visit. Next time lets plan on more time!



This putting green is behind our house. Today was watering day, so it brought out a lot of doves and other birds.



The "before" picture of "Thumper". Needs front turn signals, it's missing one mirror and the other is badly scratched. lotsl of dirt and oil on the engine, a little rust. dead battery, and a clogged carb..all fixable. Some TLC and it will be purring like a good little 650..just one big piston! This will be the "carry bike" for the Minnie. I may put a small windshield on it too.


Our neighbor Redd, and his 17 year old son, Jeremy. Because it's a 55 plus park, Jeremy can only visit, he lives in town with his mother. He's now the happy owner of a nice little Suzuki, but would rather have a new "Sportster Low" like his Dad.



SAG (Steve Gunn) and Barb stopped for a visit. We sat around the house for awhile, then headed out to Old Town for a lite lunch.



Ester's make their food fresh, it's healthy and very tasty.



A popular bar in Yuma, and one of the old buildings from the 1930's.



There are Festival's almost every week in Old Town. Today, it was a Childrens Arts and Craft Festival.


Downtown Rhythm and Blues Club



I'm sure this young lady came over from California for the day. We're only a couple blocks from "Yuma Crossing" here, the other side of the Colorado River is California.



Window looking in Old Town



We ran into Popeye



The Mexican Border Crossing at San Luis. Right here is where Slick (John Clemens) was parked on his bike last year, and I got in a little trouble for taking a picture of him. I've decided it was John's "shady" looks, no one bother us today.





San Luis looks about the same on both sides of the border. This is the Arizona side.



Maybe the last picture of Suzi Blue. I made an agreement to sell it today. I'll be looking for a replacement to carry behind the Minnie. I thought I'd ride it more down here, but every time I've gone out this week, it's been on the Burgman. So, I made my neighbor happy. And I didn't do too bad on the deal.



Barb had never been in a Cracker Barrel. We broke her in tonight.


Steve had a steak, this was his "small" dinner salad that came with it.



I had Lemon crusted trout, with fresh sweet corn and baby limas cooked with country ham. It was very good.



A couple of well filled old guys. Since the Ducks played today (and lost) Steve had to wear his Oregon colored shirt. He and Barb are football bans. I was more interested in who won the Nationwide race today:-)



Went to the Mexican Swap Meet, needed some wiring connectors from Wally's World, a very good discount store there. They have many ladies clothes shops. Lots of women walking around, didn't see any that could wear these clothes :-)



They sell these to Mermaids. They swap out their Fin for one of these bottoms.



The swap meet has a food court, and lots of little shops like these..plus clothes, electronics, shoes, many misc. items, etc. Some new, some used. I love going out there. Yuma has a very large Swap meet, where you can find just about anything imaginable. Mostly all new, and the prices aren't all that great anymore. I like this one better.



These Mexican marshmellos are over 2 inches in diameter.



I brought home a bag of oranges and one of grapefruit for Pat. The fruit in the park won't be ready for about a month, so she'll be able to get her fix from this place.



We were having coffee this morning and heard a loud "whooooosh". Happened a couple of times. We went outside and saw this balloon just above our park. It got down to tree level, then back up and sailed away. It was beautiful!



The things on the porch are for sale. Love seat and Recliner and some other furniture. Haven't advertised it yet.


New cement drive way in the carport this year! We paid the owner to have it done while we were away. NO more dirt!


Still have a few lawn decorations to put up, another pink flamingo, etc. It's looking good!



Furniture, end tables, coffee table, and a stool. All needs to go.



Living room, with dog decoration.



View from my chair.


Other view from my chair.



Pat picked out a new bedspread.



Bathroom is large enough for us.



Dining area,



Back of our place. Green grass all year. the tangelo tree is loaded, only about another month and we'll have all we can eat and then some.



Looking from the back of our place. there is one well kept golf green down there. The place with the large orange tree on the left is for sale. The trailer, storeroom, the nice fruit tree, all go. Includes furniture, dishes, appliances, bedding, a new roof Air Conditioner ($800) nice covered carport and sitting area..He's asking $2000. Would be a good buy!



Our next door neighbor, Redd. On his new Sportster.



My new "cranky" bike. It will take a little while to get used to this, but so far, so good. I need to get some CLAP for it, that starts tomorrow.



Our Mexican water jug.



Our caravan. First gas stop in Ashland, OR, Exit 14 on I-5. The sun came out for the first time today. We left when it was still dark, and pouring rain. Pat's driving the Green Lizard, I'm in the Minnie. We're taking Suzy Blue with us, the Burgman is already down there.



A cool cloudy day, up here in the Siskiyou Mountains.

The leaves are pretty, there are lots of bright yellow ones, and a few reds.



Mist and rain in the California high country.



The sky is threatening, but there was no more rain. As we went South, it got warmer and dryer.



Mount Shasta is in the clouds today....but there is more snow on it than when I was by here a few weeks ago.


Black Butte.



Trees near Dunsmuir, CA.



Don VSP had prepared dinner for us. We got to his place in Stockton around 7 PM. We stopped to trick or treat, and ended up with ribs!



These were delicious ribs! He had a whole rack, so this was just the start.



Don in his "Trick or Treat" Haloween clothes. This is Saturday, the 31st. He was ready with a LOT of candy to hand out, but only a couple groups of kids had been by. Pat helped by taking a few samples :-)



The moon coming up over the Saltan Sea. This is right across from where the road to Borego Springs takes off to the West. It's about 26 miles from here to where Steven (Rogue) lives.
We arrived in Yuma in the dark, around 7:30 PM. The house looked good. Too tired to do much unpacking, tomorrows another day..................