Happy Birthday Stacy

Stacy is our youngest daughter...no I won't tell you how old she is!

She is a wonderful young lady and we are very proud of her.

Home park..Rainbow's End

We finally made it to Livingston, Texas yesterday after a very scary journey the past couple of days. It was very windy from the time we left I40 in Amarillo, Texas and headed south on State highway 278. By the time we got to Childress, Texas for the first night the wind was so strong we couldn't put up our satelite or extend our slides. Didn't have to worry about the truck noise since the wind sounds were louder. Very little sleep that night. We headed out that morning and had to go less than 300 miles to Corsicana, Texas. Again the wind was strong and again we didn't put up the satelite however we were able to extend the bedroom slide. The wind seemed to die down a little during the night so we did get some sleep. Yesterday was an easy drive...only 180 miles...but at times the wind was still strong.

But we made it...and are now parked at Rainbow's End...the Escapee park in Livingston. Guess you could call this our 'home park' since this is where our mail goes. We are staying in what they call the 'Hill' section. We have never stayed in this section of the park so when friends Paul and Marsha Weaver said there was a spot next to them, we decided to grab it. We really like this section...the sites are big and grass covered. I will post pictures later.

During the next couple of weeks we will be having doctor appointments and washing the motorhome. Weather is warming during the day but still a little cool at night.

Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona

Not really...but words to a song. Name that Tune!!!

We left Needles this morning headed for Kingman to get our oil changed. I had checked the RV Service Review website and located a truck stop in Kingman. The reviews were all good so we thought that it would be a simple matter to stop there and get the job done. How wrong we were!!

We arrived at 10:30am and we were told that they could get to us in about 1/2 hour. Off we went to Dennys for breakfast. At 11:00 they called us with an estimate of the job. More than we thought but it had to be done so we said start. They said it was 1 1/2 to 2 hour job. At 2:00pm still not a word from them. At this time we are sitting in their waiting room and Ed finally went to see what the hold up was. It seems they had been finished since 12:30 and couldn't get it started!!! We were very angry. Here we are at a Freightliner repair facility and they couldn't get our motorhome started after they changed the oil!! They got air in the fuel line somehow! At 3:00 I noticed that the motorhome was out of the shop and sitting in their lot. At 3:30 Ed went back to see what was going on and they said "Oh its done!!!" Then they had the nerve to try to charge us the labor for trying to get it started again!! Needless to say, we had that removed from the final bill. Stay away from Great West Truck Center in Kingman Arizona!!!

It's over now, and its done for another 10,000 miles. Sure could tell the difference in climbing over the mountains though. Tomorrow I'll do a milage check to see how we are doing.

We are now in Walmart in Winslow Arizona and hope to make it to Santa Rosa, New Mexico tomorrow. Hope to be in Livingston by Saturday.

We are back on line

We have been boondocking at Avi Casino outside of Laughlin, Nevada. We had planned on staying at Northshore RV park, part of our Colorado River Adventures membership. But when I called last week when we left San Francisco, they said they were booked until Sunday (today). I knew that in Arizona, we have problems with our Verizon internet and cell phones, but since Avi is on the Nevada side of the river, I didn't think we would have a problem. Wronggg! 2 days without internet..I was going crazy!!!

Avi Casino has a hugh dirt lot where everyone boondocks. You can stay 3 days and then you are supposed to and reapply for a permit. They check your players card to make sure you have been playing at the casino before they issue another 3 day pass. We didn't need to worry about that since we were only staying 3 days. When you sign up at the security desk for the first permit, they bring you back to your rig to check to see if you are leaking any fluids. Rigs were supposed to be less than 10 years old also, but there were some there that we knew were older than 10 years. A lot of restrictions to park with no hookups but it was okay.

We played a little in the casino there and then went into Laughlin to the casinos. We may go back to Laughlin on Tuesday after we get the laundry done.

We got up early this morning and moved over to Northshore RV park. We will only be here for a couple of days before we head east. Ed will play golf tomorrow, while I get to do a good cleaning of the inside (aren't I lucky).

Weather has been wonderful, Ed says he is finally thawing out after the cold in Pahrump, Nevada and the wind in San Francisco.

Jelly Belly Factory Tour

We left San Francisco this morning and made a stop at the Jelly Belly Factory before we started south.

They really do a great tour, it's free but then they want you to save your money to spend in the store afterwards.


They make everyone where these hats. Not sure why.


It takes 20 days to make a jelly bean. The first process is the inside of the jelly bean. Then after that process cures for 3 days it goes to the second process for the outer coating. Again it cures for 3 days. They then go to polishing and again cures for a couple of days. The final process is to run through a machine that separates out all the jelly beans that are either to small or to large. These are called "jelly flops" and you can buy these in bags at the store for $9.00 a bag..its a bigggg bag! Then they are stamped with the name. We were able to try different flavors at each process. We had the newest flavor..honey, we also had strawberry blonde (tastes like strawberry ice cream) and 7-up.

Everyone knows that Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans. He was truly responsible for the Jelly Belly company becoming so big. As governor and as president, he always had a large jar of jelly beans on his desk. For his presidential inauguration, they had to come up with a blue jelly bean (blueberry) so that there could be red, white and blue jelly beans in the jar! Here is his picture in jelly beans.



It was a good tour and we spent our share in the store to pay for it.

Sailing San Francisco Bay

Yesterday we went sailing. Tina and Jay live on a 35 foot sailboat. Jay has been sailing his whole life so we felt pretty safe with him. We were on the water about 6 hours. Here are some of the pictures I took while sailing around Alcatraz and to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz Island

Golden Gate

San Francisco from the water

Sailboat Race

Tina and Ed

Golden Gate

It was a nice sunny day, however it was windy on the water. But then, when your sailing you need the wind. It was a good day.

Streets of San Francisco

We’ve been playing tourist in San Francisco with Tina and her boyfriend Jay. Jay grew up here and can get us around on the public transportation here. They have many ways of transportation….buses, trolleys and of course the cable cars.

Look at those hills!! We found the Cable Car Museum. The cable cars used to be all over the city but after the earthquake and fire of 1908, they rebuilt using electric trolleys.

There are only 4 left. The museum actually is where the cables run.

California and Mason are the names of 2 of the streets where the cable cars run.

After the museum, we found Lombard Street. Here is the part that ‘crookedest street’

We have been having a good time. Tomorrow we go out on the sailboat!! Stay tuned for pictures of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz.

Our granddaughter turns 16!!

Ciera Lynn Griffin

Turns 16 years old today.

Our granddaughter is growing up.

Where does the time go!

We are so proud of the beautiful young lady

she has become.

Enjoy your day, Ciera. Love ya!!

Leaving Pahrump

Since our friends left Pahrump on Sunday, we had to use their coupons, so we had steak on Sunday evening, ham and eggs on Monday morning, then went to the 2 for 1 buffet at the Nugget Casino.

The wind started blowing late last night. It would blow real hard, then stop, then start again. We work up early…6:30am and wanted to get started since the wind usually gets bad in the afternoon. We were very surprised to see …..SNOWWWWW!!!!!

It was sticking to the ground but the roads were clear so we left anyway. After a stop at Terrible’s for fuel (its 50 cents more per gallon in CA), we started on our way to Baker. Here are some pictures I took along the way.

But we only had to drive in this for about 20 miles. By the time we reached Shoshone, the sky was blue.

And in Baker, where we stopped for a late breakfast….

Guess no matter when you leave Pahrump the weather will get you!!!

We’ve been eating too much!!!

But when you keep winning 2 for 1 deals at the casino, you can’t pass it up. Terrible’s Lakeside Casino has started a new promotion for the month of March. You go and swipe your players card and you can win extra points or meals. We had won 2 for 1 seafood buffets which we had to use on Friday. Then we won 2 for 1 hamburgers which we had last night. We were joined last night by some other friends we just met…George and Osa. They swiped their cards before dinner and won 2 for 1 16 oz steak dinners!

Terry and Jeri left a day early because they are expecting snow at the 5000 foot level and you have to go that way to get to Vegas. They are headed back down to Yuma, whereas we are headed next to San Francisco so we won’t have to go over that pass. And they left us their coupons! We now have 2 - 2 for 1 coupons for the steak dinners, plus another coupon for the hamburgers, and 2 for 1 ham and eggs!! We are going to have a lot of coupons to give away when we leave.

Tomorrow, Ed will play in a poker tournament and I will play some bingo. Wish us luck!!!

Death Valley National Park

Yesterday was a busy day. We set out with Terry, Jeri along with Duchess (their sweetheart of a Doberman) at around 8 am. After making sure we had enough fuel to make the tour, we were on the road to Death Valley about 8:30.

Our first stop was an area where you could see the lowest ‘Badlands’ area of the valley.

Then on to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center at 200 feet below sea level. They have a campground there along with a motel, golf course and cafe.

Furnace Creek was just below Harmony Borax Works and we toured the Borax Museum.

This area is well known for the Borax 20-Mule Teams. Many of the old stage coaches were on display at the museum.

We continued on the Stovepipe Wells area of Death Valley and located an area to enjoy our picnic lunch.

We were not able to see some of the things we wanted to see because some roads are still not opened either from snow or they have been washed out. We did continue on the ‘Sand Dunes’ but we were a little disappointed in them. The colors were beautiful and I know the pictures are not doing justice to the area.

After all that traveling, we returned home to rest up for the evening. We went to the Golden Nugget here for their 2 for 1 buffet. $10.70 bought us both a great meal. We did a little casino hopping again. We again only lost a little but had fun. On the way back we stopped to visit our friends Linda and Dave Sand who just purchased a brand new Journey. After traveling for a little over 2 years in a 24’ View, they are really enjoying the space they have now. We are very happy for them and know its a great move for them. They are leaving today for the Yuma area.

Ed is out playing golf today and later we are going back to Terribles Casino. We all have 2 for 1 tickets for their seafood buffet tonight. Another great meal for around $12.00 for 2!!

Pahrump Casinos and friends

We arrived in Pahrump, Nevada on Tuesday. Yesterday was Terry and Jeri's anniversary so we went to the Pahrump Valley Winery for a late lunch. It was a wonderful meal with good friends. (Check out the blog 'Just Wandering' thats on my blog list for pictures)

We then went Casino hopping. We signed up for all of the players cards and received some free play money. We were up and down all evening and ended by leaving about $10.00 behind. Not bad for a lot of fun entertainment. We checked out the buffets at the casinos and we will be going back on Sunday for dinner because its 2 for 1! I think Ed will go back for a poker tournament and I may play more bingo.

We have been very surprised at the weather here. We thought that being so close to Death Valley that it would be warm. Wronggggg! The highs are only in the 60's and the nights are getting cold. Good thing we topped off our propane before we left Parker.

Today we are off to visit Death Valley. Picnic lunch is packed. Another great day with friends.