3/2/11 Can't believe it has been two weeks since I last posted! Sorry for the delay. We have been moving fast and seeing lots of people since we got off the Explorer of the Seas. The day that we docked back in New Jersey was sunny and warm and quite a bit of the snow had melted. We got off the ship early because we had packed light and were taking our own luggage off. At the airport, we waited for our flight to Atlanta (with a subsequent flight from there to Phoenix) and we realized that every flight that was leaving was overbooked. This was probably because it was President's weekend and everyone had an extra day off. They were calling for volunteers to give up their seats. Finally, the gate agent called us up by name and said that if we allowed them (Delta) to change our flight so that we went through Minneapolis and then on to Phoenix, they would give us each a $400 voucher for future travel, a $7 lunch voucher, and put us in first class for the Minneapolis to Phoenix leg. We would be arriving only 1 1/2 hours later than planned. So we took it. Wow, it is neat to fly first class!!!
Back in Phoenix, we slept in the rig at the Elks Club, and then the next day had lunch with Joyce and Don Lipari, Elaine's former sister-in-law and her husband. After a nice meal with them and cheesecake and coffee in their new home in Mesa, we headed for Tucson, arriving just at dark. Once again we stayed in the yard of Elaine's Aunt Marion and spent the weekend having fun with her, and also Penny, Elaine's sister. We had no food in our rig because we had been away so Penny brought over some food, and Sunday Aunt Marion's friend Louise took all of us to a nearby casino for a delicious prime rib dinner.
Monday we left and headed for Yuma, where we stayed on the lot of Ron & Carol Leonard in the Foothills. Diane & Jim FisherBaker were also staying there, as were 2 of Carol's nieces. We had several enjoyable Happy Hours with them over the course of the next few days, had a delightful time and delicious dinner with Lee & Susie Blattner at their rig at the SKP park, got to see the new mobile home and lot that Diane and Jim had just purchased about 1/2 mile from Carol & Ron's, and had a quick visit at Dan & Jenny Shepherds casita. Sure wish I could be posting pictures of all these enjoyable events, but I still have not been able to get my camera repaired.
Our Yuma visit was also short because we needed to head back to CA to deal with some rental issues. We drove to Jojoba SKP park for a quick visit with Joe & Carla Calwell and Dick and Carole Schneider. Had intended to stay both Thursday and Friday but the weather forecast was for very cold temps and snow down to 500 feet starting Friday. We needed to get through the mountains surrounding Los Angeles before snow fell, so we decided to leave early Friday. That gave us Thursday with our friends, so we all went to a nearby BBQ restaurant for lunch and then to the Shadow Mountain Winery for an excellent wine tasting - and some buying as well. Nearly every one of their wines was excellent! That evening Joe and Carla had us all over to their 5th wheel for a delightful dinner of green chili stew, with lots of talking, drinking wine, laughing, and catching up on each others news. It was great.
Friday we left early and yes, beat the bad weather and made it over the mountains, although there was snow on the ground in the Tehachipi's. It took 2 days for us to drive up to Sacramento where we set up our rig on Ron & Carol's property. The weather was cold but sunny for the next few days. We made several visits to our property in Woodland to try to hurry along the moving process of our tenant, but it still took her until last night at 7PM to get totally out. We were happy that she left without necessitating the hiring of an eviction attorney. So today we had the locks changed and started cleaning up the big mess that she left us. Tomorrow we will be able to start painting. We are hoping to have this place fairly well cleaned up and ready to show to new prospective tenants within a few weeks. We will also have to drive down to the Santa Clara house for a few days mid-month to do some yard cutback and cleanup during the annual cleanup campaign that the city has every spring. It is a chance to get rid of huge amounts of stuff because the city picks it up off the street at no charge for 2 days. These rental issues are a lot of work but since we have no pensions, only rental income, and we like to eat, we periodically have to pay attention to business!!!