Where Does the Time Go?

It has been over a week since our last posting.  In the prior post we had mentioned our plans and they all worked out.  First, we had 3 days being a snowbird in Yuma where we saw the Territorial Prison (now a State Park), went to Los Algodones Mexico (to see where Paige’s folks used to buy their medicines) saw the Yuma Proving Grounds and Imperial Dam.  Here is Bob waiting for "The Especiale" in a downtown tavern:

 

You know you are in "Snowbird Country" when the supermarket has a fleet of more than a dozen battery-powered shopping carts:

 

Last Wednesday, we moved about 17 miles to a large RV park that was hosting a number of RV rallys: the Fleetwood owners club had just finished, and both the Alpha and Freightliner clubs were there for the rest of the week.  Freightliner (the same company that makes big trucks) makes rolling chassis for a number of RV builders.  Freightliner puts together the frame with wheels, tires and brakes then adds engine and transmission, steering and dash hardware then Winnebago (or other manufacturer) adds all their stuff.  This rally is part of the Family Motor Coaching Association and is a chapter, or sub-group, for the owners of any brand of motorhome built on a Freightliner chassis.  We knew only one couple when we arrived, but made a number of new friends.  Two sites north of us was a couple from Nova Scotia who had our same motorhome (but with a different paint job).  We had fun touring each other’s rigs comparing storage ideas and problem areas.  Just south of us was another couple with a house in the same area of California where we just completed 2 projects.  We sat in on a number of informative presentations and shopped at a couple of vendor’s booths.

 

After the rally ended, Freightliner held two limited-enrollment schools for 2 days each.  Bob was lucky enough to get into the Mon/Tues school which just finished.  Paige had the opportunity to spend time at Starbuck’s and doing little projects and cleaning around the motorhome.  Some people we met had to loaf around (like seniors can do) until today when their school started.  Now we know enough to be dangerous around a service shop.  Paige had time to hang around the pool:

Today was our longest driving day of the year at 275 miles.  We are parked at the Escapees club’s Saguaro Co-Op in Benson AZ.  Here is what our view through the picture window (windshield)

   

Traveling Again

We finished working last Thursday and had a pleasant dinner with the group that evening.  This group was such fun!  We did a ton of laughing.  We don’t say “goodbye”, but instead say “we will be seeing you again somewhere/sometime.”  One couple pulled out early Friday morning, and the other two went sightseeing to Venice Beach where there is great people-watching.  We stayed around LaVerne and did routine errands and relaxing.  On Saturday morning we hosted the others for a waffle breakfast, then hooked up to leave the Los Angeles area.  We stopped for the night at the Escapees Jojoba Hills Park outside of Aguanga CA.  This co-op park is member-owned and, this time of year, the members are all here so the only space for us over-nighters is in a boondocking area (no electric).  After living with low voltage at LaVerne for the past 6 weeks, we now have No-Voltage, so we are only staying here for one night.  It is a very scenic area with lots of hills and ranches.

Tomorrow we will head for Yuma where we will be staying for 10 days: 3 on our own, 5 at a FMCA rally, and 2 at a Freightliner school.  It looks like there are some interesting sites to see there – a date farm, Algadonas Mexico, an old prison, etc.  We should get some photos for the next posting.

Finishing up at San Dimas

Today is Thursday, Mar 31, which is our last day working at San Dimas UMC.  It is a historic church, built in 1901, which was expanded in 1924 and suffered a fire in 1998.  They have a small, but very welcoming congregation.  They fed us snacks and lunch every day we were working here (4 days per week, and 3 weeks duration).  Our team of 4 couples did some landscaping, a lot of painting, some carpentry, and some stucco repairs at 3 locations: the church, today’s parsonage, and the original parsonage (which is 1880’s vintage and too small for today’s usage). 

We have had a great team, had a lot of fun, and got a lot of work done too. 

As we said in our last posting, this our first back-to-back scheduling, so we are ready for a break. 

Last weekend Paula was in town and we got to see her at Tomie’s apartment.  All four of us took the time to explore Marina del Ray, Venice Beach, and the neighborhood of Venice.

We will be staying here for an extra day (Friday) to do laundry and slowly repack, then move to an Escapee campground south of here (for the weekend) before heading to Yuma AZ for a Freightliner rally next week.  After that we plan to take a couple of days to head east toward Big Bend and hill country in TX, before turning north again.

Nomads’ Third Period is Complete

Our work here in LaVerne is done and the rest of the team is moving on. One motorhome left earlier today, headed to Texas, and two others plan to leave tomorrow, going only to Pomona.  We will be staying right here for the next 3 weeks with a new team of volunteers.  Two things will be different: this will be our first back-to-back projects (6 weeks straight) and we have worked with all of the other people coming for the next project at least once previously.  During our next 3 weeks, we will be commuting all of about 3 miles to a neighboring church in San Dimas.  They have no room for us to park there but it is not far and it is a pleasant drive.

While here, we scraped and painted at least 9 lampposts and 4 wrought iron gates

Facia boards on their two out-buildings were repaired, scraped, and painted.  Over a dozen 4x6 columns were jacked up for repairs and repainting.  Quite a few smaller plumbing and furniture repair odd jobs were also completed.  We cleaned up a rusty old folding chair as a present for the church's project coordinator.

We didn't get bored.

This is the second time we’ve done a project here.  We were here 4 years ago also.  This is the church featured in one of the final scenes of the movie from the late 1960’s – The Graduate.  We had a chance to reconnect with many of the church members from our first project.

 

The members of the church brought in snacks and lunches almost every day.  The lunches were often huge and included various Phillipino recepies.  There is a large Phillipno presence at this church.  We didn’t expect so much food, but we did appreciate it.

We had some time to go exploring during the weekends.  There was a trip to Studio City to see Jeff and Jamie and their two daughters.  There was one motorcycle trip to Angeles Crest Highway only to find it closed for repairs.  We still got to ride about 10 miles of its west end, before pulling a U-turn and seeing it from another perspective. Last weekend we tried to see the ocean and the southern metro beaches, but traffic was so horrendous that we gave up and returned home.  Twenty miles per hour is about average for these 8-lane parking lots.

California, Here We Are

We left Arizona on Thursday, splitting our trip to the Los Angeles area into 2 driving days.  We stopped in the afternoon, to have all day Friday to play tourist in Palm Springs. 

Quite a number of Hollywood-types and other entertainers chose to live here, just outside of the LA basin.  We took the opportunity to drive down Gene Autry Trail, past Kirk Douglas Way, and saw the shops on Palm Canyon.  Here is one of Frank Sinatra’s houses:

 

Just at the edge of town is the San Gorgonio Pass, home to more wind turbines per acre than anyplace else we’ve seen:

 

After soaking in the RV park’s hot pools, we were ready to face weekend traffic into metro Los Angeles.  Although it was Saturday morning, the traffic and drivers were much more reasonable here than in Phoenix.

We arrived at the Methodist church in LaVerne about noon.  We were here before, about 4 years ago, so we knew where to go and where to park.  Our team leaders were ready for our arrival, and the rest of the team members pulled in later in the afternoon.  We have worked with one couple earlier this winter, but the other two are new to us.  We will be working here for three weeks and, when the project ends, the others will leave but we will stay another three weeks, commuting to another project in nearby San Dimas.

Arizona Days are Dwindling

It has been over two weeks since our last posting.  A lot got done during that time. The right/front slideout has been repaired – not without a little drama.  It took two trips to the service bay, but the main thing is that it is no longer an issue. 

While Pam and Ron were here, they bought a winter home about ½ hour southwest of here with the intention of avoiding the worst of Minnesota’s winters.  Pam is now retired so that is easier for her, but Ron is still working and he will have to commute when he can get away.  We helped Pam a little bit by assembling a desk and hanging a mirror, plus a couple of other minor items.  The home is very nice and she’s having fun (most of the time) getting everything needed to live in it.

Paige, Pam, and Paula’s mother, Joyce, was also visiting Arizona during the last three weeks or so. She had an opportunity to stay at Pam’s new house for a few days.  The four of us returned to Minnesota last Thursday, all on the same flight to Minneapolis, with Joyce making a rushed connection for a flight continuing to Duluth.

We chose mid-February for this trip since the schools have Presidents’ Day off and the granddaughters had the extra free time.  While there, we got to see 2 of Anna’s hockey games – very exciting, with lots of skating and passing.  David and LaJoy joined us for Valentine’s Day with Brayden and Kaelyn, so we had most of the Riewe’s together.

While we were on our Minnesota “winter vacation” we got word that Bob’s youngest uncle had passed away.  We tried to delay our return, but Delta Airlines wanted nearly $1,000 to reschedule our flights.  This was way too much so we kept our original tickets and got back last last night.

Today, Wednesday, we are preparing for departure.  Our next service project begins next week in LaVerne California.  Today, we are packing, doing laundry, checking tire pressures, loading the motorcycle – all of the things needed to hit the road in the morning.  Here is where we’ve been since early October.

 

Sunny day photo of what we are leaving

 

Our Work Here is Done

Our hosts at Wesley Community Center had provided us with an initial list of projects they wanted done while we were here.  As things were completed, more were added.  At the end of three weeks the “completed” list was longer than they had expected.  Josh and Betty, from Wesley Center, provided an end-of-project dinner for us last Wednesday at a local Mexican restaurant, and we had our own little “going away” dinner on Thursday.  We met two new-to-us couples on this project and had a great time with everyone! 

 

Friday morning we moved back to Paula and Tom’s place in Glendale.  Since Paige’s mother and sister, Pam, are both in town it is like Benson-Central here for the next week.  Tomie also came home for the weekend to see her Grandma.  We went out last night to celebrate an early birthday for Paula.  Good to see everyone! 

 

The coming week, we will be busy with having our slideout repaired, meeting with a number of other friends, and preparing for our “winter vacation”.  We missed Christmas with our sons and their families, so we will fly to Minnesota for a belated Holiday in mid-February.  We are all looking forward to that.