Month: April 2024

Eclipse then home

We woke to a cloudy morning on 8 April. It didn’t look promising for viewing. Kevin kept watching the cloud cover on weather apps, and just before totality we quickly drove 20 miles northwest. We got amazingly lucky, and the clouds parted just enough to view totality! There were still some high thin clouds, but we could see the “Diamond ring” and then the darkness fell. All the birds stopped singing, and even the insects stopped their sounds. Very odd, but just like what we observed during the 2017 eclipse in Idaho. Soon it was over, and we got absolutely no good pictures! We were rushing so much to get to a clear spot we had no time to set up gear. Oh well I have memories.

We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night at the RV park in so-so weather.  We spent Thursday, 11 April at the Walmart in Abilene. Nice spot for an overnight parking location. We spent Friday at Mustang RV Park in Oklahoma, leaving very early after deciding to make a run for home because of a bad storm coming in. We made it to the KOA in Topeka, KS on Saturday, then home on Sunday. We put the motorhome at our local county park, open but without water. We were too tired to unpack, so we just slept there that night. Monday and Tuesday were unpacking – ugh. It always seems a lot more trouble to unpack than to pack. But we are now home, and the cats adjusted quickly. I think they like the extra space for their zoomies. They run from the bedroom through the living room and down the stairs multiple times a day.

April and May are our medical appointment times, and we are both pretty busy with our respective dentists and doctors. Kevin is getting his dental implant finished, and I have appointments with a dermatologist, ophthalmologist, and the pain medicine guy. I need a dentist appointment too. The pain med will require at least two follow up appointments, and the derm probably will too. Sigh.

My poor 830 Record sewing machine had to go to its doctor on Saturday too. I got a thread sound up at the stand and broke the needle. I can’t get it to do any free motion quilting since, and it broke 5 needles when I kept trying various repairs I knew about. It sews ok on straight stitching, but there is thread wadding up on the bottom when I do FMQ. Hopefully I just pulled something out of whack and the machine can easily (and inexpensively) come back from it. I will find out in a week or so. The RZR is in for some major preventative service too since we really don’t know how it was cared for before we got it. We have out a few thousand miles on it! We had a regular oil change done when needed, but this is a more extensive service. We find out that dollar amount next week too, depending on whether they fine anything serious. We don’t think so, but …

I won’t be posting much, normal for me when I am home. Staying in one place just isn’t as interesting as traveling. We do have one short trip planned with my son in law and his two children the week after Memorial Day. Then we will be leaving for our western summer in mid-June.

Lake Havasu, Casa Grande, and the Desert Botanical Garden

We took off on Sunday morning, 24 March, and headed toward Lake Havasu City. We had reserved 5 nights at the Elks Lodge full hookup campground. Very nice! We had an end site, and we were able to enjoy some fabulous sunsets looking over the town and lake. The place was pretty full each night with snowbirds on their migration, so advanced reservations were needed. This was definitely the biggest and most active lodge we have stayed at. Cheap drinks, decent food, and no smoking made it a hit. We came so I could attend a Staycation with the Lake Havasu Quilt Guild I joined back in June.

A quilt Staycation is like a quilt retreat except you get to go home each night! Breakfast goodies, lovely lunch, nice snacks, and prizes were to be had. I took my set of 100 4” finished triangle in a square blocks. I had to arrange them, and the big tables made it so much easier than the motorhome. I got them arranged nicely, sewn together, and then I got the quilt sandwiched nicely. I even started quilting it, but my thread got caught and broke the needle. Even though I tried all kinds of tricks to get the machine working again, I must have tweaked something wrong internally. Sigh. I really wanted to finish the quilt before I got home plus do some other miscellaneous sewing too. I have already made an appointment with a service shop.

Leaving Lake Havasu we gradually headed toward our eclipse reservation in Uvalde, TX. Or at least we tried! We made it a whole 60 miles before we had to pull off the road for wind. That had us spending Saturday night, 30 March, in Bouse, AZ at the Desert Pueblo RV Park. It was a bare bones snowbird park, but very clean and quiet. A single activity room and no pool, but it was only $500 a month plus electricity for winter. We took off on Sunday morning for Casa Grande and another Elks Lodge. This camping area was dry camping, but that didn’t bother us in the least. We stayed two nights since we wanted to revisit the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Prepare for a photo extravaganza!

This is two shots of the wildflower garden.

The organ pipe cacti here inspired us to visit Organ Pipe National Monument a few years ago.

I love this view of a saguaro forest on a hill. I really want to come back some time in June to see them blooming.

It was an overcast day that threatened rain, so some of the flowers were curled up.

Look at this century plants (agave) putting out huge flower stalks. After blooming later in the season the plant will die.

There were numerous areas of lupines in all colors. I have a weakness for the dark oin of these.

Saguaro are not just popular with humans, but the birds depend on them. The lower bird was headed into a nesting cavity. The top bird had nesting materials in its beak.

We never did find the plant tag for this tall fellow. To compare, Kevin is 5’10”.

Barrel cacti are my favorite type. They come in a variety of shapes and spine types, but these orange flowering ones were showing off through the garden.

I am showing two pictures of these small barrel cacti to give you an idea of scale. The cacti “buds” were 2-3” high, and the flowers tiny but brilliant.

 

And I just think the white spikes on this succulent is interesting. The Palo Verde Tree behind it was lovely too. Palo Verde trees do their photosynthesis in their green trunks instead of their leaves.

This barrel cactus was in a container right at the entrance. It was a good opportunity to get a better view of the flowers.

These Chihuly glass sculptures were also at the entrance, sparkling even under the overcast skies.

Kevin and I both agreed we need to plan a trip to the area later in the year, heat and all, to catch more blooms.

After Casa Grande, we spent a night in Deming at the Elks Lodge. They don’t officially have a camping spot, but they said we were welcome to park overnight. Dry camping on the edge of bunch of WWII barracks foundations and across the street from an old Army Aerodrome from the same time. The lodge looks abandoned, but then, a lot of Deming looks the same way. We spent Wednesday night in the Van Horn RV Park which meant lots of laundry. They have a decent little cafe there with standard diner food but delicious home made cobblers. Ft. Stockton RV Park was the last stop before we landed in Uvalde, TX where we are staying at Qual Spring RV Park. Very nice place! Live oaks give lots of shade, and the sites aren’t bad sized. We aren’t fond of Texas, but this is definitely one of the nicer places we have stayed in the state. We won’t leave until Wednesday morning, 10 April. Clouds are expected to put a huge damper on our eclipse viewing, but that is the luck of the draw. We talked about trying to chase the totality zone to a place without clouds, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

Finally – San Diego with some of the grandkids then FMCA Convention

When I last posted, we were on the way to San Diego to visit with my oldest son, his lovely wife, and my three oldest grandkids. We stayed at the Mission Bay RV Resort. It is a pretty nice place for an urban RV park. It is right next to Mission Bay, and there is a public beach that adjoins the park. Of course the sites are narrow, but that goes with being in an expensive area.

The grandkids and their parents (twin girls 14, boy 10) arrived with their parents on Sunday late afternoon. We had a lovely dinner, then the kids went with us to the motorhome. It was the first time we have had five sleeping in the motorhome, but it worked well. The girls slept on the air mattress in the sofa, and the boy slept on an air mattress on the floor. They were up late to their bodies (central time zone to Pacific time zone) so everyone slept late the next morning. We met their parents for lunch, then we went on a whale watching tour. We actually saw a lot of various whales plus two types of dolphins. I, of course, got zero pictures! I get a bit seasick, so I stayed outside on the deck and ate my candied ginger. I got by, but I didn’t feel well enough to run around the boat for pictures. Turns out my grandson also gets seasick! Poor kid.

We said goodbye to my son and DIL, and we went back to the motorhome. The next few days were just and the grandkids. We went to the San Diego Zoo of course. I had so much fun looking at the kids I didn’t get too many pictures again, but I did get some. There was the obligatory koala picture of course.

Mandatory koala picture

As on our first trip a few years ago, I was as impressed with the plants as I was with the animals!

Flowers
Unique

here are the three famous kids at the entrance. Sorry about the dust reflections,

The famous threesome

We spent time wondering around the piers. The kids were quite impressed with the Disney cruise ship in for a turnaround. We also bought souvenirs there.

Disney cruise ship

There was a lot of time spent at the beach watching the surfers and playing “sandpiper” – waiting until the wave came in then running away like the sandpipers do. They had a lot of energy! There was also time spent building in the sand and collecting seashells. There was a pool at the campground too, and they also spent time there. Even though the girls are 14, they still had fun on a “12 and under” playground. There were a lot of them around. We met the adults on Friday before they flew out. I hope they had enough fun to go with us again.

After San Diego we went to the FMCA convention in Tucson at the Pima County Fairgrounds. It is always a fun time. We came in a bit earlier than most because Kevin was volunteering with the security team. Here is what the Fairgrounds looks like empty. Then think of it full of over 1000 motorhomes and trailers! The blue spot is where we were parked.

Satellite view of the grounds

I felt a bit bad for the speakers at the opening ceremonies because the sky gave them some heavy competition! What a glorious Arizona sunset.

I taught a class at the convention – sewing oven mitts. What a great group of students! Two were using borrowed machines, one person had never used her brand new machine, and three were experienced sewists. Luckily I had a few helpers who hadn’t brought their machines but wanted to see what the class was. They helped the folks who were having trouble with their machines. At the end everybody finished at least one mitt and was almost finished with the second. The experienced folks finished both. See the mitts they finished, and looked at those fabulous smiles! That was the best part of the whole thing!

Showing how to use the Accuquilt cutter
Final product
Smiles!

After all the excitement of San Diego and the Convention, Minnie was not alone in wanting to rest a bit. I will write about the other locations we have visited tomorrow.

Minnie