More from Lake Havasu City!

January 2014

1st ....On our drive back from Quartzsite we stopped to check out 2 state parks out of Parker. We also made a Walmart stop in Parker.

Fat and MaryLou Dugan arrived on the 1^st. We had them over to Dad's for dinner on the 2^nd and again for pizza on the 4^th.
We to church on the 5^th with the Dugan's and then out to breakfast at Papa Bears.
Also that evening Jack and Carla arrived. We all went to Dugans for a sandwich and a visit.
6^th ...I took Dad to Dr. Wintory, the ortho guy. He thought that the problems was a torn rotator cuff. Since that shoulder was replaced 5 years ago they are unable to do an MRI. They will inject it with dye and then do an arthroscope on the 10^th.
7th ...Doug & Fran came and overnighted with us. They left one of their motorcycles at Jack and Carla's. We all visited with them that evening. Doug & Fran took the trailer with the other motorcycle to Yuma on the 8^th.
9th ...Dad went with us for a drive to Parker where we met Doug & Fran for lunch. They are headed home for 3 weeks and will bring the RV back with them the end of Jan.
10^th ...I took Dad back for the test and then we saw the surgeon. Best he could tell from the arthroscope the shoulder tendons/muscles are torn. The options he gave was to 1) do nothing and live with not using the shoulder and 2) have surgery to try and repair it. If he wanted the surgery it needed to be done as soon as possible which left out the option for doing it back home. He opted to try the surgery. The doc said he would scope it to see the damage and then determine while in there if it can be repaired. Fortunately he had a cancellation for Jan 20^th. From there we went to the lab for his surgery blood work. He has not been a 'happy camper'. He has pain in the shoulder and is not happy about having additional help. ….very hard to please at times! Lord give me patience!!!! We will made some plan adjustments to be here during and after surgery.
12^th ...we attended church with the 'group'. Dad went to breakfast with the others but we came home. That evening I made dinner at Dads. Sonja, a friend of Dads that lives in the park also came to dinner. She does volunteer Home Health Care. We talked about hiring her to help Dad get to /from therapy and to check in on him for the month of Feb. while we are in the Phoenix area with Doug & Fran.
13^th ...we went to the movie “Saving Mr. Banks”. Dad went as well. It was also time for grocery shopping.
14^th ...Dad's pre-0p appointment.
15^th ...move day.....First we had to get propane and make a stop to get the oil changed in our generator. We moved to Lake Havasu Resort on London Bridge road...a Coast to Coast Park. We can stay here for a week. In the afternoon I took Dad to see another doctor to have an EKG for surgery clearance.

The Balloon Fest was in town the 17th-20th. We went out the first morning and watch several balloons inflate and go up. It was a beautiful site. This was a first for us and we really enjoyed it. That afternoon we went to the movie 'Lone Survivor'. Mike had read the book and really wanted to see the movie...it was hard to watch but very well done. After the movie we met Dad/Sonya, Jack/Carla & Fat/MaryLou at the Eagles for dinner. While there we ran into Elaine and visited for a short time.

18^th ...Dad called and seemed to be having some kind of spell...he wasn't making a lot of sense and wasn't understanding what I was saying. We rushed over there and he was still having problems...said he couldn't run the microwave and that really bothered him. He knew something was going on. A similar thing happened the Thur. before when he was at Sonja's. When discussing it with the surgeon prior to his surgery, he felt it could have been a TIA (a mini stroke).
19^Th ...we went to Church and then brunch with Van Voasts and Dugans. We took some dinner to Dad and that evening we went back to the Balloon Fest to watch the 'night glow'. That was sooo cool. The balloons were all on the field and when they would give it propane the fire would light up the balloon. They did several routines where they all 'glowed' at the same time. 
20^th ...we were scheduled to arrive for Dad's surgery at 1245p. Well when all was said and done he was not taken into surgery until after 430p. The doctor found that is was NOT a torn rotator cuff. He did remove some bone spur and arthritis but felt the problem of not raising his arm was most likely neurological. Also that the muscles in the arm had deteriorated. We finally got back home at 9pm. I stayed overnight with Dad.
21^st ...(my birthday) I spent the day with Dad. I made a pecan pie and rolls for him and did laundry. Also did charges for Fran. That evening Mike & I went to Angelina's Italian restaurant for my Birthday dinner.
22^nd.... Dad had an appointment to have the dressing changed and then his initial physical therapy appointment. After all that we headed to Quartzsite with the RV. We parked in the desert about 3 miles north of town at the 'High Jolly' BLM area.
23^rd ...we went to the RV show and then that evening visited with our friends from CA, Glenn & Henrietta. I also cut Henrietta's hair. We decided to bite the bullet and purchase a Winegard HD satellite dish for the roof of the motorhome. It works similar to the King Dome in that you just push and button and the dish comes up and finds the satellite automatically....it just isn't in a dome as they are too big. The KEY is we now will get HD programing The company is Satellite Advantage out of Quartzsite and they told us if we paid cash we could get out of paying sales tax, which saved us $180.
24^th ...I went to the 'Gem Show' and wondered around a bit. In the afternoon we went to Bob & Cheryl's for dinner and a couple of games of cards.
25^th ...we wondered around the other vendors in Quartzite and back through the RV show. Had a beer at Beer Belly's near the RV show and listened to the music.
Sunday the 26^th ...we had to have the motorhome in for the sat dish installation at 8am. We went across the street to LaMesa and looked at some used motorhomes to kill time. Finally around 1pm we were on the road headed back to Quartzite, this time to Campbell Cove Rv. Our spot this year was very tight (did I say TIGHT)....the smallest space we have ever parked in. You pull straight in and are about 2feet from the RV in front of you and our slide was about 18in away from the neighbors slide. Kinda felt like being in a sardine can! Won't do that again...most storage spaces have more room than that. Oh well it is only for 6 nights. We went to Dad's that night and cooked some fish that the neighbor gave him.
27^th ...I took Dad to therapy and also did some grocery shopping. Later we took dinner over and Sonja joined us. Prior to dinner we all stopped and visited with Jack & Carla.
28^th ... we stayed home and go caught up on computer/paper work. I also did charges for Fran.
29^th ...I went early to Dad's to do his and our laundry. Therapy today was at 4p. afterwards we went to Denny's for dinner.
30^th …. therapy was canceled. We had a Happy Hour gathering at Dad's with Roger & Val Golden, Jack & Carla and Sonja.   
31st ...was a trip to Walmart and then Dad's Post Op doctor appointment at 145p. All is good at the doctor but he told Dad's that he needed to exercise that arm every day for the rest of his life. He will continue to have therapy for 6 weeks. After the appointment we went to Lake Havasu State Park to pick up Doug & Fran. They are overnighting there in the overflow area. We went to the Beachcomber where they picked up the motorcycle. We went to the Eagles for dinner. It was quite busy! Tomorrow we leave Lake Havasu and head to Gold Canyon which is east of Mesa.

 

Christmas Eve 2013 ~ Lexi, Doug and Fran in the background

Merry Christmas 2013!

December 16 – 31...We went to dinner with Dad a Shagrue's on the water the first nigh we were here. The next day the park maint. checked out the power and didn't see anything wrong. Our power cord is pulling away from the connector so that may be causing a problem. We bought a replacement end and Doug replaced it while they were here. Dixie worked off and on the medical billing. We attended the movie American Hustle...it was ok but wouldn't recommend it.   Dixie cooked several meals at Dad or here for the 3 of us.

Bill & Gloria arrived in the park on the 16^th and stayed until the 27^th. Doug & Fran arrived on the 20^th for a quick overnight before heading to La Quinta to stay in Ross's condo for 2 ½ weeks. That night we all went to the Eagles for shrimp/fish.

Dad, Mike & I attended church at the Islander on the 22^nd, went to IHop and then to the swap meet. 
 

On the 24^th Doug, Fran, Danny & Lexi came for Christmas. Bill & Gloria bought broasted chicken from Scotty's for our dinner. I made potato salad and dessert....mummmm good! Christmas dinner was a combo....I cooked the Ham, rolls, salad, pie, Gloria brought Turkey, potatoes, stuffing & gravy and Fran rounded it off with brussel sprouts,deviled eggs, a pie and wine! We had a grand time eating and visiting. Some of us were even able to eat outside! Danny & Lexi had to go back but Doug & Fran stayed until Friday. They were having a motorcycle seat recovered and bike pinstriped so they had to meet with the workers. 
 

On the 29^th we were ready to go to church but Dad called and said he was unable to raise his right arm. He had complained that his shoulder was hurting a couple of days before but now he could not raise it. It is the side of the stroke so we went over and checked him out and decided we should go to the emergency room instead. We were there for 2 hrs where they did a head CT Scan and right shoulder xray. Process of elimination they felt he may have a torn rotator cuff. We are to follow up with the ortho doctor. He had the rotator cuff on the left shoulder repaired in March! Of course we were unable to get an appointment to see the ortho doctor until Jan 6^th.
 

On the 30^th we went with Dad to Cafe Serrano for a Mexican dinner.
 

On New Years Eve day we drove to Quartzsite and stayed overnight with Bob & Cheryl. We had a party with them and another two couples we know (Rick/Judy & Jim/Linda). We had fun and were in bed by 1030p....we made it to New Years in New York!!!

Kinda glad this year is over. We are praying for a better year in 2014.

 Our hike on the Araby Trail...Bob Hope's house in the background

On the way down....Bob Hope's house....It's for sale?!?!?!

Leaving southern California!

December 1 - 15...Since we were carless we spent Sunday hanging out. Dixie did a couple of haircuts. At 730a on Monday Danny came back over to our park to pick us up. We dropped him at work and did some shopping. We also went to Ross's condo and checked out the cleaning and took the remaining items out. Guess what???? The car was not ready...there was something broke on the crank case of the new used transmission and they had to take the part off our transmission.... We picked Danny up at work and he drove us back to our park once again! The next day our friends Glenn and Henrietta took us to the car shop to pick up the car. We made a WinCo stop and then back to the motorhome...all seems to works well with the car. Of course it cost more than the original quote ~ $1400 and something! Dixie did a few haircuts this week. Also put some jewelry items in the craft sale at the clubhouse...even sold a couple of things this week!

Friday the 6^th we drove into Palm Springs and hiked the 'Araby Trail'. It was a 1.5 hr hike up 800 ft. It took us to the back of Bob Hope's estate. The houses along the way were quite beautiful and the view of the valley was terrific. After the hike we shopped a bit and then met Danny for a drink at Smiddy's and then across the street to use our Red Lobster gift cards (thanks Doug/Fran).

Saturday afternoon Dixie went to Danny's to babysit Lexi while he went to his Christmas party in Beverly Hills. Dixie cleaned Danny's house and worked on learning her new 11.6 inch Asus computer. We had it, as well as an external DVD drive shipped to Danny's so he got it all set. It's a bit of a learning curve due to Windows 8.

Danny got back around noon on Sunday. Mike moved the motorhome from Desert Pools to Indian Waters RV in Indio where we will be for the next week. It's was also Dad's 80^th Birthday...we will celebrate once we get to Lake Havasu City next Sunday.

On Monday we drove to Riverside for Uncle Don's memorial service. It was held at their church...Hope Lutheran at 11am. It was a very nice service and lunch. Cousin Bob & Paula from FL were there as well. We went to Aunt Marge's afterwords and visited.

On Tue. The 10^th Dixie finished up some Christmas shopping. She also did a few haircuts at this park.

On Thurs. evening we met Jeff & Jewel, friends from our RV group back in MT, at the Cliffhouse in La Quinta. They live in Rancho Mirage in the winter. We had a nice time visiting and enjoyed some fish tacos.

Friday we worked on computer stuff! Dixie went online and completed a lengthy application for health care. Yuk!! Did get signed up with a little credit toward the monthly so hopefully it will go through. Later we went up to the clubhouse patio and attended a happy hour of people from the park. There was a little music and snacks. We had a good time visiting and catching up with people from past years.

Saturday morning we went to the Street Fair at the College of the Desert. We made a few purchases of course. That evening Danny went with us to dinner at Chef George's! From there we made a stop at Hamilton's Sport's Bar.

Sunday it was time to leave the Coachella Valley! We weren't quite ready but we had to get to our reservation for the next month in Lake Havasu City, AZ with Dad. Hopefully we will get back yet this season. The trip today is 175 miles. We made a stop in Parker, AZ for fuel and tried to get propane but there was no one available to fill us. We arrived around 3pm We are in site B31 ~ not too far from Dad's park model. We had some problems with our electric so we didn't hook up....50amp gave us a ground fault error and 30 amp was weak.

 A Church front at the Desert Bar!  Go figure

 Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Dixie's crunched finger....the purple is gone but it still hurts & the feeling is not all back yet!

November 2013...AZ & CA

November...Our week at Ridgeview was pretty busy. Our first night we got together for dinner with Gene & Susie and Tom & Diane (couples from our FMCA chapter in Montana). We went to the movie 'Captain Phillips' that was very good. We attended the BBQ cookoff where we had some great 'Montana' BBQ and listened to some music. We visited with Gene/Susie and Frank/Katherine (Susie's sister). On Sunday with golfed with them as well. The golf game wasn't great as we haven't played since June! 

Tuesday, the 5th we moved down the road 95 miles to Earp, CA to Emerald Cove RV Resort. It's on the Colorado River and looks across the river to Parker, AZ. We lucked out and got a site on the second row from the river. There is no one in front of us so we have a great view of the water. 

Fri. we visited George & Gail (friends from Canada) at their park (Riverland). It turned out they were only about a mile from our park.

On Sat. the 9^th we started celebrating Mike's Birthday a day early! We drove to the Desert Bar...the 6 miles drive off the highway is still as bad as it ever was. We had a fun time listening to the band. We did however decided not to eat there as the lines were long. We opted to stop at the Casino back in Parker where we had a sandwich outside overlooking the river. Later that evening we went over to the RV parks outside bar and listened to some karaoke.

Sunday, Dixie went to church at the park and then cooked a Cornish Hen dinner with all the trimming for Mike's Birthday. Of course we also had to have Birthday cake!

On the 12^th we drove the 47 miles to Quartzsite, AZ . We parked at our friends, Bob & Cheryl's. The sold their motorhome and bought a house in Rainbow Acres, a subdivision about 7 miles out of Quartzsite and they had an rv hook up. We stayed their until the 21^st. While there we made a few trips to town so Dixie could stock up on jewelry making supplies. We also shared a few dinners and happy hours! On the 15^th we went to Silly Al's with Bob & Cheryl and had pizza.

On Sunday, the 17^th we got up early and drove to Lake Havasu City. Danny flew to Great Falls on Friday and drove Dad down to LHC. We all went to brunch and then got Dad stocked up and settled into his park model. We left about 3p to drive Danny back to Rancho Mirage. We had dinner & overnight at his house. It was a 300 miles day!

On the 18^th we spent the day helping Ross pack up his condo in La Quinta. Since I was the only female helping, guess who did all the packing – never dreamed you could get so much stuff in a one bedroom condo??? The 3 guys carried it to the 'pod'. We left there about 530p and headed back to Quartzsite.

On the 20^th we spent our last night having dinner with Jim/Linda, Rick/Judy and Bob/Cheryl. We had great time visiting on the patio! Their place is very nice.

On Thursday the 21^st we drove 143 miles to Desert Pools near Desert Hot Springs, CA. Also that day back home Doug had back surgery back. The day didn't go too well..Doug had complications and a lot of pain, we had car problems and Dixie crunched her finger!! After our arrival when we unhooked the car it would not move forward or in reverse. The only way we could get it to move was to put it in Low gear. We got it to our site and talked to our friends, Glen/Henrietta from Edmonton. They suggested a mechanic they used in Indio. We called and he could look at it the next day. We called our Good Sams roadside service and set up a tow for Friday. Also on Thursday when setting up Dixie smashed her finger in a folding coffee table we have. It immediately turned a dark shade of purple and hurt a lot! What more can go wrong in this one day?

It was late morning on Friday before a service came with a flatbed truck to take the Tracker to Han's Auto Service in Indio 26 miles away. He called later that day and gave us the bad news that the Transmission was bad. We opted to have a used transmission put in and he thought he could have it ready by Wed....(not going to happen)

On Saturday we rented a car for a week in Palm Desert. Danny came and got us to pick up the car. From there we all went to the Beerhunter to watch the Bobcat/Grizzly football game.

Back in Montana on Sunday Doug had to go back into surgery to remove some blood pooling that was causing tremendous pain. He finally got out of the hospital on Wed. (7 days later).

On Monday the 25^th we decided to take the rental car into Palm Desert to do some shopping but guess what???? The keys had gotten locked in the car when we came home on Sat. Here we go again...we called Good Sam's roadside service only to find out our plan didn't cover keys locked in a car! We found a garage in Desert Hot Springs that came to the park and were able to get a rod in the window and push the door opener button. $25 later we were on our way to grocery shop.

On Wed. the 27^th we drove to Aunt Marge's in Riverside. We went to visit Uncle Don at his assisted living house. He was under hospice care and not expected to live. Mike and I went to Marge's where I made pies and a salad for Thanksgiving while Marge stayed with Don. Late that afternoon we also went to visit Mike's sister and family, Buster/Sandy in Corona. We went to dinner and came back to have the desert Dixie made. We overnighted with Aunt Marge.

On Thanksgiving, Don passed away around 130p. Marge had prepped the turkey and dressing so I cooked it all. We had 9 for dinner...Shelly, Lexie, Danny/Lexi, Bob/Connie (friends of Marge & Don), Marge and Mike/Dixie. It was a wonderful dinner and time together, just sad without Don! We went back to the motorhome that evening.

We wanted to purchase a small laptop on Black Friday but didn't want to venture into the crowds so we went online on Thursday evening and ordered it from Best Buy. The car was to be ready on Friday but of course it was not. They had a harder time than expected getting a used tranny. Should be ready on Monday. Our car rental was due back on Sat. AM.

Sat. morning Dixie took her jewelry to the weekly craft show in the park that morning but there weren't many there so 'no sales'. We took the rental car back and Danny picked us up. We shopped a bit and had lunch with him. He took us back later in the afternoon and we barb-b-cued steaks.