Roadrunner

We are still in Casa Grande but today we moved to a different RV park where we'll be until Wednesday when we head to Scottsdale for Gracie's next dog show. This park is attached to an 18 hole golf course where we get to golf for 1/2 price most of the day, and FREE after 4:00. As my step-dad is fond of saying, "Free is good." So we took advantage and played nine holes this evening. Tom had a pretty good round and mine wasn't awful, so we were happy. While waiting for our tee time, we saw this roadrunner perched on a fence near the pro-shop.

Dash and Gracie picture

While we went to the horse show, our friends Jeff and Karen were nice enough to take care of Dash and Gracie for us so we didn't have to worry about how much time we spent away from home. They have a huge yard where the dogs like to run. And both the dogs just love Jeff and Karen so they had a great time without us. Karen took this adorable picture while the dogs were there and I love it so much, I wanted to share it with everyone.

Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show

We have a friend from the dog show world who is also involved with horses and horse shows. She came down from Oregon to Arizona this week to help a friend who was showing a horse at the big Arabian Horse show they have in Scottsdale each year. We went to the show yesterday to visit with Arlene and also to see the amazingly beautiful horses. This was our first horse show. There are a lot of similarities to dog shows, but it's all on a much bigger - and even more expensive - scale.

Phoenix Dog Shows

We just finished four days of dog shows at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix. The above video is of Gracie during her "individual exam". On three of the four days, Gracie took Reserve Winners - which is basically like Miss America Runner Up. Nice to know she was in the running, but it didn't get us any addtional points toward her championship.

But as always, we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We saw many of our dog show buddies and some friends had a party at their house on Saturday evening for the Norwich exhibitors. Tom's daughter Shannon came out to the show with a friend of hers for a few hours one day. It was Shannon's first time at a dog show and it was fun showing her around.

Now we are back in Casa Grande, AZ for the next couple of weeks where we'll hang out until our next dog show in Scottsdale at the end of the month.

Golf and Super Bowl

We attended the FBR golf tournament in Scottsdale this past Thursday and Saturday. Thursday was the first qualifying round with over 120 golfers out on the course. We followed the group with Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard for a little while on Thursday. Then we sort of skipped around trying to get a look at some of the other big name golfers. We saw Anthony Kim, Kenny Perry, Stewart Cink, David Toms, J.B. Holmes, Luke Donald, Rocco Mediate and several others, but still didn't manage to see everyone we'd have liked to. It was a darn good thing we got to watch Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim that first day because neither one of them qualified for the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, we again followed Zach Johnson's group - which included Scott Piercy and Lucas Glover - for the first 7 holes, then we made our way to the 18th green and watched all the golfers finish up. Scott Piercy had a great start to his day, getting 4 birdies on his first 7 holes. He got a few more birdies after we stopped watching and was in the lead for a little while, but then he seemed to fall apart the last few holes with 3 bogeys. We watched Kenny Perry make an impossibly long putt to get a birdie on the 18th hole to take the lead on Saturday which was kind of fun because it was Kenny Perry who ultimately won the tournament on Sunday.

Sunday of course was Super Bowl Sunday. Tom's daughter Shannon came with us to our friends Jeff and Karen's house to watch the game. We had a great time snacking on all the food and cheering on the Arizona Cardinals.

On Wednesday we'll be moving to the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix for a dog show this weekend. The entry is big enough for "majors" all four days. So it is possible Gracie could be a champion by Sunday. She just needs to win the points 2 of the four days. But bigger entries means more competion, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

PGA Golf Tournament

Tomorrow is the first day of the FBR Open PGA Golf Tournament in Scottsdale, AZ. Many of the big names are playing, including Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Zach Johnson, J.B. Holmes and more. We are planning to attend at least two of the four days of the tournament and so today we moved to an RV park in Mesa. The first golfers tee off at 7:40 am tomorrow. What are the odds Jo will get up early enough for us to see that?

Monster Jam

When we thought our nephew Luke was going to be with us for the entire month of January, we bought tickets to take him to a Monster Jam event in Phoenix. Sadly, Luke had to leave a little early so wouldn't be able to go. But we decided to go ourselves anyway. What the heck, we'd already bought the tickets. It could be fun. And it was!

The huge colorful trucks, the noise, the energy of the crowd all made for an exciting evening. There are two parts to a Monster Jam event. First is the racing where two trucks go head to head around a short course which includes sharp turns and a jump. The fastest moves on to the next round and the losers are eliminated until finally only one winner remains. The second part is the "freestyle" competition where one truck at a time will pop wheelies, make big jumps, spin donuts and perform whatever other tricks they have in their repertoire within the allotted time. Each performance is scored by 3 judges and the highest score wins. Most times a different truck will win each event, but last night it was Jimmy Creten driving Bounty Hunter who won them both.

Casa Grande again - feels like home

Well, the re-work on our roof repairs is finished and the majority of our concerns with the original work have been corrected. But unfortunately the paint still doesn't quite match to our satisfaction on the back end, which means we will be making yet another trip to Yuma in a month. But for now, we have left Yuma and are back in Casa Grande, AZ. We've spent so much time here over the last year, it's starting to feel like home. We really enjoy this area. Casa Grande is still pretty much a small town, but has all the goods and services you need for daily life, including several golf courses. It's also less than an hour away from the Phoenix area to the north and Tucson to the south. So there's plenty in the area to keep us busy.

Yuma part 2

All too soon our time in Quartzsite has come to an end. We had so much fun visiting with friends, old and new, we hated to leave. But we had to return to Yuma for just a bit more work on the roof of the motorhome. Last time we were here, we had what we hope will be the last of the fiberglass cracks in the roof repaired, but we weren't entirely satisfied with the paint matching job and some of the smaller details. It was as much our fault as the shop's since they only had 2 days to do the work as we were trying to leave to get to the dog show in Indio.

Anyway, we are now back in Yuma and will take the coach into the shop tomorrow for the finishing touches. The good news is we heard from Monaco this morning and they are going to cover the cost of the repairs under our warranty. We had been hoping they would, but weren't entirely sure since we are actually a couple months past the end of the warranty period. Even though it seems like we've had to get a lot of pesky repairs along with a few major ones, Monaco has been very good about paying for it all, so we can't complain too much.

Hopefully we'll only be here for a couple of days, and then it's on to the Phoenix area for a golf tournament (as spectators) and a dog show (as exhibitors.)

Luke Heads Home

Well, we are up to 12 RVs in our group out here at Quartzsite with at least one other supposed to arrive today. But we are down one camper. Yesterday was the last day of Luke's visit with us. Early this morning Tom drove him back to Palm Springs to catch a plane home to Anchorage. His vacation is over and it's time to go back to school. We'll miss him.

Gathering in Quartzsite, AZ

Friday we arrived in Quartzsite, AZ to meet up with a group of RVing friends. This place is hugely popular for winter RVers because it's extremely inexpensive. Many folks will spend several months out in the dispersed camping areas of the BLM desert land where there is no electricity, no water, no sewer dumps for miles and miles. They have it down to a science. They have water tanks in their trucks to haul fresh water out to their RVs and then another tank to take the waste water back out to a dump station. Many have several solar panels installed on their roofs to help keep their batteries charged.

We are not that adventurous. We are staying in an area of BLM land that is minimally developed for camping. There are a few sewer dump and fresh water stations located in the area as well as portapotties. And there are a few paved roads to get you out into the camping areas. Then you pull off into the desert - which is hard ground around here - and set up camp wherever you want.

There are 8 RVs and 17 people here from our group so far. More should be arriving this weekend.

One of the gals, most of us call her Mama (though she is nowhere near old enough to be any of our mamas), was brave enough to offer to make dinner for everyone tonight! She has a delicious salmon recipe that we will all get to enjoy. Luke helped a couple of the guys build a large firepit, so tonight hopefully we'll all gather 'round the campfire after dinner. Tomorrow night is a potluck.

In addition to being the winter home of thousands of RVers, Quartzsite also has what has to be the worlds biggest flea market. Vendor tents stretch for miles along the frontage roads next to the highway and there are organized "shows" in the Big Tent a few times a year. This week is the 26th annual Sports, Vacation and RV show. After that is a Hobby, Craft and Gem Show and then a Rock and Roll Classic Car Show. Unfortunately we are only staying through Monday, so we'll miss the Gem and Car shows.

Golfing

Yesterday Tom and Luke met up with our friend Don (who spends much of his winter in the Palm Springs area) for a game of golf. They played at the City of Indio Golf Course, which is an 18 hole, long par 3 course that is lit up at night. Tom and Luke kind of liked playing in the dark but Don said it was harder for him to follow his ball. Either way, I thought it looked very pretty.

After golf, we met up with some of Don's friends for dinner at a place called Babe's BBQ and Brewhouse. YUM!

FMCA Rally, Indio, CA

We spent last week at the motorhome rally in Indio, along with about 3000 other attendees. We went to a few seminars, did some shopping at the vendors and enjoyed the entertainment in the evenings. We were parked next to our friends Mic and Rick and had cocktails one evening with folks who were parked across from us in Palm Creek last November.

The theme of this year's rally was "the wonders of ancient egypt" and the various member chapters put on a parade on afternoon based on the theme. There were some pretty elaborate costumes and floats.

Reminder from Fairbanks

Just in case we were starting to take the blessing of our new lifestyle for granted, a friend sent us a picture from Fairbanks that was taken yesterday. We actually do thank God daily that we are able to travel around as we do, but after seeing this picture, we'll add a few extra amens!

First Week of the New Year

We've already been pretty busy this first week of the new year. New Year's Day found us parked at the show grounds for the Palm Springs Kennel Club dog show where Gracie was entered. After getting ourselves all organized at the site, we were surprised with a knock on our door from a friend who lives in Anchorage. Debbie had her Norwich entered in the show too. It was great to spend a bit of time catching up with her again.

On Friday our nephew Luke flew in from Anchorage. He will be staying with us for the month of January. It will be fun to have someone to share the adventures with. He brought his guitar with him and played for us a little bit that first night. I'm very impressed with what an accomplished musician he has become in the relatively short time he has been playing.

On Saturday evening, we hosted a get-together for some of our dog show friends who were there that weekend. My hope had been that it would have been warm enough for us to all hang out outside the motorhome, but it was a bit cool and breezy that evening so we had about a dozen people inside the motorhome. We were cozy, but not too cramped. And we all had a great time. We were pleased to have been able to spend time with old friends and get to know some new friends better.

As for the show itself, well, it was not our weekend. An important part in the presentation of a Norwich is the coat, and Gracie just doesn't have much right now. It got too long about a month ago and had to be stripped out and not enough has grown back yet. So as it turned out, Gracie was just there to help contribute to the point total for the other exhibitors.

However, it was a good weekend for friends. Nancy and Dwaine finished the championship on one of their girls and Carolyn got "majors" on both her Norwich and her Kerry Blue Terrier.

After the dog show, we took the short drive to a county park in La Quinta (still the Palm Springs area). It's a nice, quiet park with trees and a lake. We will enjoy relaxing here for the next couple of days before going to the motorhome rally on Wednesday.

Happy New Year

Today we moved from Yuma to Indio, California, near Palm Springs. Gracie is entered at the Palm Springs Kennel Club dog show this weekend and then we'll stay around the area for a couple more weeks.

Cocopah Golf Cart Christmas Parade

Tonight was the annual Golf Cart Christmas Parade here at the Cocopah RV resort. Many of the residents who own golf carts do them up with lights and decorations and they all parade up and down the streets of the RV park.

Tom and I sat out front of our RV with a glass of wine and Christmas songs playing on our iPod speakers and cheered them on. It was all very fun and festive.

Tamale Festival

Last Saturday was the annual Tamale Festival in Yuma. There were over 30 vendors with various kinds of tamales. We were able to buy a string of tickets which could then be traded for one tamale each from any vendor we chose.

We sampled all sorts of tamales. Everything from the traditional pork to beef, chicken, cheese, bean and any combination thereof. But the really different ones were the dessert tamales with pineapple, raisins, cinnamon, etc. The most unique was a chocolate tamale.

There was also a stage with various musical acts performing throughout the day. Our favorite was the Mariachi Band.

We had a great time.

Yuma, Arizona

After the dog show, we settled ourselves into the Cocopah Golf and RV Resort here in Yuma. We'll be here for the month of December. Tom immediately decorated the palm tree behind our RV with Christmas lights. This park has a regular 18 hole golf course as well as a driving range, so Tom is happy.

I have a friend who spent some time in Yuma last winter and made the trip to Mexico to have some dental work done. She told me her dentist had state of the art equipment and low prices. So when part of one of my fillings fell out a couple days after we got here, I decided to call her dentist to get it fixed. They got me in the next day.

We drove to the border and parked the car on the U.S. side, then walked across the border into Los Algodones, Mexico. The dentist's office was only a couple blocks away. Everyone in the office spoke english which made it easy on us. Turns out the reason my filling fell out is that my tooth was cracked all the way through. Which meant simply replacing the filling was not going to work. The entire tooth actually had to come out and I was fitted with a temporary bridge - two crowns attached to "real" teeth with a fake tooth in the middle.

Today I went back to have the permanent bridge installed. All went well.

While we were there, we decided Tom should also have his teeth checked since it had been awhile since he'd had a checkup. Poor guy had six cavities!

The good thing about it all is the cost was probably about half what it would have been at a U.S. dentist and insurance should cover the majority of it.

After the dental work was complete this afternoon, we wandered around town a bit and bought a beautiful ceramic bowl and a colorful planter in the shape of a frog. We have named him Francisco.

Thanksgiving weekend show in Yuma

Gracie was entered in four days of dog shows starting the day after Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving day found us on the road to Yuma, Arizona. We put a turkey breast in the crock pot, using a recipe that would make the turkey, gravy and stuffing all together, and had that cooking as we traveled down the road.

Once we got to the Yuma Fairgrounds where the show was being held and got ourselves set up for the weekend, the turkey feast was ready to go.

As for the show, we had a great time. Our friends Tish and Orville were there and we had fun getting to know some other Norwich exhibitors better.

We showed Gracie the first day and she was second in her class. The next day, she took first in her class and then went Winner's "female dog" which means she got points towards her championship. It takes 15 points to become a champion and the number of points a dog earns at each show is determined by the number of dogs competing in that breed. Among the 15 points, you have to earn two "major wins" of 3 - 5 points (5 being the max available at any show no matter how many dogs are entered). So once you get to 9 points without any majors, the dog is said to be "singled out" meaning it needs majors now to finish its championship. 1 or 2 point wins won't help. After Saturday's win, Gracie is now singled out. Now we need to find shows with a big enough entry for major wins. So we didn't show Sunday or Monday. If she had won the points, it wouldn't help her and it would take points away from another dog who could use them. Plus, if truth be told, we had early morning ring times on Sunday and Monday and I'm not a fan of early.

Our next show will be Palm Springs in early January and we're hoping for a big entry there.