Day 147

We're In Vegas Baby

Sep 30, 2013, 9:01 PM

It was long day on the road but we made it just fine. Then the fun started!! The Vegas traffic was tough, the exit we were supposed to use was closed, we get to the RV park and there is a truck parked in the spot we are supposed to be in. That didn't upset me too much. The RV that would be next to us if we were in that spot was creepy, so we got a different spot. Now this is an RV park for one of the casinos, when I say it said parking lot with hook-ups, I mean it is a PARKING LOT, there is almost no room in between each RV, but what the hell, it was about 1/3 the price as the last Vegas place we went to. 

Tomorrow Kim, Robert, and Alex and Sandy and Daddy get here. We can't wait!!!!! We are going to have a great time celebrating our 10th anniversary in the place it happened. So good night darlings, I'll be sure to give you updates. 

Day 146

Dinner With Marines

Sep 29, 2013, 7:08 PM

Well we packed up cooking necessities and headed to Curtis and Courtney's to make dinner for Marines. Curtis asked if we would mind if a few of his buddies came over for dinner with us. So I'd planned on making dinner for them and we just added a few more people. Courtney and I made meatloaf (2), a double batch of macaroni and cheese, five pounds of mashed potatoes, green beans, and brussels sprouts. Curtis invited five of his fellow Marines and we had one hell of a dinner. Courtney and I cooked pretty much all afternoon, but judging by the way those boys went at it, how quiet it got while they ate, and how there were almost NO leftovers, I think it was appreciated. 

Steve and I are on the road to Las Vegas tomorrow, so this was a perfect goodbye to Curtis and Courtney. Curtis will be going to Afghanistan in December, in light of that I'm so glad we were able to spend this time with him and Courtney. It has been really great. Good night all, I'll be in touch tomorrow. 

Day 145

Great Day With Curtis & Courtney

Sep 28, 2013, 9:02 PM

We had such a nice day with Curtis and Courtney. They came to the RV and we had such a great time talking about old times with Curtis, getting to know Courtney, laughing, joking, and eating. After dinner Steve, Curtis, and Courtney went fishing at the lake here in the campground. Courtney hadn't been fishing since her grandfather took her when she was 8. There was no luck with the fish at the lake but they came back full of smiles so at least they were having fun. 

Tomorrow we are going to go to Camp Pendleton and meet some of Curtis' fellow marines. I can't wait. Good night all.

Day 144

Change Of Plans

Sep 27, 2013, 9:43 PM

Well we had a sudden change of plans. Curtis had to work late so we weren't able to do dinner with them tonight. No biggie, Steve and I got some errands run. What should have been a few quick errands turned into an all afternoon escapade. However we did see the craziest thing in the world and we probably looked like two idiots standing there watching it. We had to pick up a few things at Walmart. We found a Walmart that was a super center so that we could get some food shopping done at the same time. Being limited as to how much I can fit in the refrigerator and cabinets, I'm going to the food store much more than I ever have, but that is another story entirely. We went into this mall that had a Walmart as part of the mall itself, so we went into the Walmart. One of the first things that Steve noticed was that the Walmart had a second floor, there was an escalator visible as you walked in. I thought that was kind of cool! What kind of wonderful surprises would we find on the second floor of a Walmart. Oh the mind can't even fathom. As we walked a few feet into the store I realized that there was a second escalator for the shopping carts. It makes sense, if you go to the second floor you will need your shopping cart up there too. I should have taken pictures but what would people think, the people that typically go to this store see nothing strange about an escalator for the shopping carts, but here is some crazy woman taking pictures. I just couldn't do it, but let me tell you, it was CRAZY!!!!! There was no way in hell I was trusting that thing with my cart, but wow, a shopping cart escalator. Now I really have seen EVERYTHING!!!!!!!  Only in California!

Well I'll let you ponder on that for the rest of the night. Have a good one and I'll be in touch again tomorrow. 

Day 143

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Sep 26, 2013, 8:18 PM

We went to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and it was so cool. I'm trying to write my blog for the day and having a really difficult time. The Big Bang Theory is on and I just can't concentrate. I'm laughing too hard!!!!! What is not to love about those guys. HYSTERICAL!!!!!! I'll have to get back to the blog after the show. 

OH SHOOT!!!! Now Robin Williams, oh this blog is going to be soooooooo late. 

OK, ok, today in the desert. It was so pretty, it's a bit too brown everywhere for me, but it was still beautiful. We stopped in one spot to try to figure out where we were and we found out we were about five days too early for the Visitor's Center to be open on weekdays, can you believe that? From May to October, the Visitor's Center is only open on the weekends, OH COME ON!!!!! We finally get to do things on the weekdays and the freaking place is closed, well sorry, we will wing it. HA!

We had a great time. We found a nice little place to have lunch, actually it was the second place, but the first place was deserted and a little man came out way to fast and it was a bit scary, so we went to the next place. Just down the road a piece. We had a nice lunch then we did some hiking around. We saw a bush full of butterflies, we saw a free range lizard, we found horse and tiger sculptures just right out in the desert, we saw crazy cactus, big ones, tall ones, fuzzy ones, plump ones that looked like thumbs. It was a cool day. On the way home we found a chicken ranch to get farm fresh eggs from. We got home, we relaxed, we had dinner, and watched crazy TV. 

Good night guys, tomorrow we are going to have an at home day and cook dinner for Curtis and Courtney. We are looking forward to it!

Day 142

La Jolla Cove

Sep 25, 2013, 7:04 PM

We had a good time today exploring La Jolla, hey it just occurred to me I should have taken my Happy Zone flag and planted it in the middle of the park and declare La Jolla now belongs to the Happy Zone, it worked for the English, the Spaniards, etc., but I didn't want to start riots. Anyway, we saw harbor seals, and crazy squirrels, and beautiful surf. The seals were so funny to watch. They were laying on rocks right beneath a walk way so we were able to see them well. They were laying out, I think trying to capture some sun although that was coming and going, as the waves would splash up on them they would arch their backs so that their heads and tails were out of the water. They were really cool. These guys were very quiet too, not like the sea lions that were constantly barking and making lots of noise. As we we're walking along the sidewalk that wound through a little park along the shoreline, Steve saw a sign saying "Don't Feed The Squirrels". Up to this point we hadn't seen any squirrels. Don't you know we didn't go another five steps and Steve saw two adorable squirrels. They were sitting up on their haunches like they thought they were prairie dogs or meerkats. Just too cute to believe. 

Now I don't know if everyone else has noticed this or not, but our GPS has a distinct speech pattern. I think she learned to read with the Hooked on Phonics method. She has been making us laugh so often today she had us rolling. We were going to La Jolla, well that was pronounced Lane Joy-la. I think she got the lane from the La. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant, that was pronounced rest-Ur-rent, and Walmart is wall-mert. This is a constant source of entertainment while we are driving around. 

It was a perfect day!! Tomorrow we may drive into the desert, we haven't decided. Good night to you all.

Day 141

COOL Day

Sep 24, 2013, 6:49 PM

We were expecting the new part for our AC unit tomorrow. This morning when Steve checked his e-mail, he had a confirmation e-mail with tracking information and when he clicked on that we found out the part had already been delivered. YIPPIE!!!!!!! So we went to the office, got the A/C motor, and Steve installed it. Oh and guess what? IT WORKED!!!!!! The cooling fins were a mess so those got cleaned also. We have been wonderfully cool all afternoon. Now I don't want to give you the impression that it was an easy task. God love him, my poor husband was on the roof of the RV, in the heat for several hours, but he got it done. Also got the oil checked and added oil, all coolant is good, the batteries serviced, and the generator serviced. We are good to go again!

Well since this nice little surprising burst of quality customer service, we postponed our trip to La Jolla Cove till tomorrow. So that is our plan. I'm looking forward to it!!!! Goodnight all, I'm sure tomorrow I'll have good stories to give you about our fun day, but trust me when I tell you, today was positively A+++++.

Day 140

USS Midway

Sep 23, 2013, 8:35 PM

This morning we got our A/C part ordered. Hopefully this will fix our problem cause I'm not looking forward to the prospect of a week in Las Vegas with only half of our air conditioning working. So we should have our part by Wednesday and Steve will be playing RV Repair Technician. Keep your fingers crossed that this fixes our problem. I have total confidence!!!! We are going to be 100% again. 

After we got all of that taken care of Curtis and Courtney got here and we went out to the USS Midway. We had such a great day and it is so good to get to spend time with Curtis and Courtney. Courtney is a just a great girl and getting to know her has been a joy and seeing her and Curtis together has been so heartwarming. Curtis has really become a man that I can be proud of and respect. I'm so happy for him and Steve that they are able to spend this time together especially since in December Curtis will be deploying for possibly over a year. It means so much to us that they want to spend time with us. Just a fun day all the way around. 

After the Midway we went to get "lunch" (at 4PM), I forgot Curtis has a bottomless stomach, and of course he still wanted dinner when we got home. The rest of us were still stuffed!! Tomorrow Curtis and Courtney have suggested we go to La Jolla Cove so we may, not sure yet what tomorrow will bring. Good night everyone!

P.S. We went to Walmart to get some stuff, of course, and Steve's credit card was declined TWICE. Now this makes me really pissey!!!!! I called our card companies before we left and I had to jump through hoops to let these people know what we were going to be doing, where, and for how long, and when we called the card company we were told there was some charges away from Florida that were in question. So we had to go through the whole process all over AGAIN. They actually wanted Steve to call every couple days to let them know where we were going to be, oh you should have seen Steve's face when he soundly told them "NO I will not be calling you every couple days." PRICELESS!!!!! The only thing better would have been to see the face on the woman on the other end of the phone.