3/14/10 Tonight we are at the Quechan Casino west of Yuma and on the road to Algodones, where Elaine has an appointment with the dentist tomorrow morning. He will check her titanium post to make sure the bone is healing where it was inserted, and then we will be free to head back to California. She will have to return in 3-6 months to get the final tooth put on the post.
While waiting for this appointment, we have been camped out at Mittry Lake with Mike & Marilyn Harrison. Here is a picture of the lake from our camping spot:

Unfortunately, it was pretty darn windy 75% of the time we were there. We were hoping to use our time to catch up on paperwork, household chores, and start doing our taxes, but many of our RV friends were around, and we had lengthy visits with them, so our spare time evaporated. One of the visitors was Maria Navarro, who was on our Panama trip with us. Her partner, Bruce, died about a year ago and we were happy to learn that Maria is doing OK and making a new life for herself here. Other visitors were our old friends, Lee & Susie Blattner, who have traveled with us a LOT. Some friends of Mike & Marilyn's who also came were Bob & Sam Fleckner. So we all had a nice corned beef dinner together last night at MArilyn & Mike's. Here are Lee, Sam, Bob & Elaine at one table:

And Susie, Mary, Marilyn & Mike at the other table:

Previously we had enjoyed a nice visit with Dave & LaVerne Markle, and today when we dropped by the RoVing Rods site for their gathering, we saw them again and also Bruce and Bunny Ratliff.

Our year-long travels have prevented us from doing anything with the group this year and we have missed that!
While staying out in the Foothills the week before, cruise friends Rick & Denice Osborne had hosted us at their home for dinner. Tonight they joined us here at the casino so they could see our RV. We had a nice Happy Hour together and then adjourned to the casino. Here is a picture of them:

We will all be on the Independence of the Seas together starting April 11 when we sail from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton.
Our plans for next week include driving to Jojoba Hills, the SKP park near Temecula for a visit with Joe & Carla Calwell and Dick & Carol Schneider. We will also stay overnight on Wednesday with Darren & Marielle in San Diego so he can cook a St. Paddy's Day dinner for us. Can't believe it has been a year since we have seen them! Then we will head back to our lot at Park Sierra next Sunday.