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We're still
at Castle Rock Shores in Parker Dam, Arizona.
Fran played
golf most every day at the park's course... it's free to
guests. It's fun even though the course isn't all that big a
deal.
During our
stay we met up with Betty and Everett Emmons in Lake Havasu
City and had a nice visit with them. They invited us to go
with them to Everett's Brother's condo to watch the Royal
Air Force Parachute Team jump onto the golf course just
behind the condo. The jump was part of the birthday
celebration for the London Bridge which is nearby.
Also during
our stay, I got an email travelog from Tom
& Kay Seliskar saying they were leaving Las Vegas and
would be at Buckskin Mountain State Park that evening. The
park is only about two miles from ours so on the way back
from doing laundry we drove through to see if we could find
then and we did. We visited for more than an hour... it's
always fun to meet someone you've exchanged emails with.
Mark,
Janette and the boys came to visit for a long weekend. We
reserved the site next to ours and had a good visit with
them. I had a cold and was not doing well but Fran took them
all for a tour of the area.
Fran and I
drove up to Bullhead City to meet with Bill Hanley who drove
down from Las Vegas. Bill used to live at Travelhome Park in
Yuba City before moving to Las Vegas several months ago. We
almost missed each other because we didn't think about the
time difference. We visited most of the afternoon and Bill
showed us some of his artwork... he has been taking art
lessons and shows real talent.
I've been
spending a lot of time adding new features to the site, a
search, a links page and a Long Long Trailer trivia quiz.
All these things use CGI scripts. It's all new to me so it's
been teaching an old dog new tricks... lots of trial and
error and frustration... but it's fun too.
We also been
workied on client web sites,,, including a new one for
J BAR D
Ag LTD we pretty proud of it.
By the time
we left Castle Rock Shores on Saturday April 1st. The park
was looking like a ghost town because so many folks had left
already.
Leaving CRS
we headed for Twentynine Palms. We staid there for three
days so we could visit Joshua Tree Park again and also check
out Giant Rock near Landers, CA that Fran heard about.
 Our visit to the 'Monument'
was just as enjoyable as last year's visit although we
didn't do the Key's Ranch tour or a lot of 'hiking'. The
damage from 1999 fire was visiable along part of our drive
but there is still so much of the park that was saved and is
still beautiful.
Giant Rock
is something of a monument itself, at least to the folks
around Landers. It's reported to be the largest boulder in
the world. People have be camping around it for many years
and there are many legends about it and some cults and 'new
age' types have been drawn to it. In February of 2000 a
large chunk of the rock split off and fell to the ground
reportedly on the same day someone had predicted.
 We made a
small detour and went south from Twentynine Palms to stay at
the Escapees Jojoba Hills RV park near Temecula. Jojoba
Hills is a beautiful park and them members there are
understandably proud. The park was full so we stayed down
below in the boondock area at a cost of $2.50 per night. We
stayed for three nights and used one day to do a little
exploring.
On Sunday
morning, April 16, we checked in at the Escapees Escapade
(RV club rally) here in Lancaster. Our intention was to move
from Mark's over to the Fairgrounds but decided we like the
hookups here so we just drove to the fairgrounds each day.
Good thing too, Everett and Betty Emmons (from Yuba City)
woke up to find their RV and all those around them in the
middle of a small lake. The convenience of parking right at
the gate near all the activities was a BIG plus too.
Mike and Viv
McNight (also from YC) were there too and Ernie Friesian
from All Seasons RV in YC was the keynote speaker... he was
surprised to see me when I walked up. We've also met folks
from Gridley and Oroville, towns near Yuba City.
Betty and
Everett Emmons won a three day stay at a campground in
Oregon which the plan to use on their way back from Alaska.
They will be in Yuba City for a month before heading to
Alaska... we told them to say hi to everyone for us... but
will probably be on there way before we get back. Have a
great trip guys.
Mike and Viv
won a trailer stabilizer which he says he can't use because
he already has one. And Brian and his wife (folks who sat
with us each night) won an RV book and some luggage tags.
Fran said they could hang the tags on their RV door when
they were on the road.
 While at the
Escapade, we met with folks from the Online RV
Club
who we converse with via email. It's always fun to meet the
face behind the computer screen. We had met some of the RV
Club'ers before at last year's Escapade and at Quartzsite
this winter and it was nice to see them again.
Also ran
into folks we met at the JoJoba Hills Escapees park near
Temecula. Not bad for a rally with over 1,400 RVs and twice
as many people.
We got to
meet Barb &
Ron Hofmeister. Their first book was one of the very first
RV books I read when we were planning to full-time. We had
them autograph their new book for us. They have also written
articles for RV Companion magazine so we shared thoughts
about the magazine and our editor. I went to their seminar
and they handed out a list of their favorite RV web sites
and HomeIsWhereWeParkOurHouse.com was on the list... cool
huh?
We attended
several seminars... two on writing magazine articles. I
learned about RV Batteries while Fran went to a story
telling seminar. I went to hear Ron & Barb Hofmiester
and Fran learned fire safety and how to use a fire
extinguisher... I figured two fire fighting schools in the
Navy was enough training for me. We each got some got ideas
for future columns at the seminars.
The evening
entertainment was fun. On Monday nigh we had a comedian from
Las Vegas who was pretty good but I heard funnier. On
Tuesday night we had a boys choir from L.A. and they did a
wonderful performance... they really knew their audience.
Wednesday was a college group who sang and danced. They were
very talented kids and we enjoyed them but they were a
little off on playing for this particular audience.
Wednesday
night was the Ham-O-Rama... the members talent show. With a
couple of exceptions, the talent of these people is amazing.
Some are, or were, professional performers. Pretty good
show... especially compared to last years. Fran tried out
for the show, she wanted to read her poem... but didn't make
the cut. Oh, well.
We really
had a nice time at the Escapade.
Our plans
changed... if we had plans... we stayed at Mark's another
week (that part didn't change) and then returned to
Arizona... Bullhead City/Ft. Mohave... to be with the
Escapees woodcarvers for a week. Mike and Viv wanted us to
go and then we spent some time with the carvers in the craft
area and they all convinced us that we would be sorry if we
didn't go.
It was
difficult to make the decision to go to Arizona because the
online RV Club folks are having a get together (GTG) at the
same time and this year it will be in the California Delta
instead of Lodi... oh well.
We had a
week between the Escapade and the workshop so while we were
still in Lancaster we visited the the California Poppy
Reserve. For all the years we've been coming to Lancaster
we've never been here during the Poppy bloom until this
year. It's truly beautiful and we worth seeing. Here's a
couple of photos.
  
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