Escapees Happy Hour

Don and I were happy to attend the second day of this event this afternoon, and we enjoyed seeing so many friends and getting lots of hugs and sharing stories. Frank and Don are old buddies.

Duane and Jean are the new assistant Escapade directors. They’ll do a great job.

Judy discussed geocaching with Judy and Clark.

It’s always great to see Lonnie & Becky.

Who’s this guy, so serious?

I missed the joke – must have been a good one!

Smile! You’re on camera!

Lots of people enjoying good weather, music and conversation.

Gabe was a little camera shy, and Cathie’s so understandably proud of her grandson! (P.S. We heard that Gabe has a little brother on the way!)

Uh oh, Dennis got ahold of the mike – we love hearing “Mom” stories…over and over…really we do!

Later we had dinner at Mountain Quail Cafe with Stu & Sandy.

Our group grew to 8, but we had to split up and sit at 2 different tables across the room. Tom, Pat, Frank & Gloria got their food and finished eating before we got served. The restaurant has a “Help Wanted” sign out front, so we should have known what to expect.

Our food finally came, and it was mostly wrong, but we finally got everything sorted out.

Tomorrow will be a dialysis day for Don in Blythe. His appointment time is later than yesterday, so he’ll be driving back about dinner time. I’ll probably eat at home and he’ll grab a bite on the way.

Quartzsite

We are happy to be in Quartzsite for the big RV show this year, as we missed it last year when we were in Florida. It’s great to have full hookups at Rice Ranch North. No great amenities, but 50 Amps, water and sewer can’t be beat. We were joined later today by Stu & Sandy Dutcher, in the Dolphin motorhome.

Don arranged to have dialysis in Blythe, just across the border in California, during our two weeks here. His first session was today, and it went well. While he was gone, I waited for the Satellite Advantage installer to come and install our new DirecTV Slimline satellite dish on the roof. It replaced our aging MotoSat dish that was about 8 years old and had become very problematical. When it didn’t work upon our arrival here, Don said it was time to replace it and this is a good place to get that done.

Besides having an easier-to-use and more reliable unit, with a 5-year warranty, the component cabinet got a huge facelift. Here are before and after pictures.

Earlier today we took advantage of the availability of onsite awning replacement by ShadePro and had all 4 slide-out awnings replaced. They were starting to wear and would have started ripping apart soon. We now have a 5-year warranty on them as well.

We didn’t have to move the motorhome for either installation – that’s just the way business is done here in Quartzsite, unlike almost anywhere else that we could have gotten the same products.

Our arrival here on Monday was greeted by our friends Bill & Jan Mains. We enjoyed beer, pizza and other goodies at Silly Al’s, a favorite for many years.

Yesterday, we saw a few other friends here in the desert.

Dennis…with Mark in the background.

Carol…

Carol, Kathy, Dortha, with Ed and Mark in the background.

Dortha hugging Frank, with Ed in the background.

Dortha, Mark, Mark, Carlin.

Sandy.

Us with Nancy and George.

Susie is the only one in line aware that I was taking a picture. Hot dogs and chili were good.

Mickey has pretty new teeth!

How great to see Frank & Gloria again – it’s been a long time since either of us have been on the road.

There was a big gathering of Escapees RV Club members this afternoon, but we had to miss it. Don was in Blythe for his dialysis session, and I was home waiting for the satellite dish installer. But we’ll go to the second gathering tomorrow afternoon, and I know there will be lots and lots of hugs awaiting. It’s so good to be among so many of our RV friends again. And it’s so good to be able to easily write and publish blog posts.

A Trip to Benson, and the Polar Bear Party

Note: The following blog post was written on January 5, but I wasn’t able to publish it. Thanks to fellow blogger Rick Doyle, who resolved an authentification issue on Blogger, I’m now able to publish. Watch for another blog post soon, as Don and I are now in Quartzsite.

January 5, 2016

Yesterday we drove to Benson for Don’s appointment with Dr. Robertson, who recently relocated there from Sierra Vista. We’re happy he’s back in Benson and a lot easier to reach, both physically and by phone. Afterward, we had lunch then stopped by our RV lot at Cochise Terrace to offload Christmas decorations and a few other items for storage in our shed. It was pretty cold and raining off and on, so we didn’t take the time to sort and put things away. One day we’ll have to do that task, but hopefully after the weather warms up.

The first party of the new year for us to celebrate in Benson was the annual Polar Bear Party sponsored by Escapees Chapter 21 and held at the Escapees Saguaro Co-op. “Polar Bears” are really yummy drinks made of vanilla ice cream, crushed ice, and coffee liqueur (or an optional non-alcoholic version), all mixed in a blender. The event is a fund-raiser for the Benson Food Bank, with contributed canned/packaged non-perishable goods as well as cash donations. In addition, a 50/50 ticketed drawing was held to raise more money. All told, about $1,000 was raised during the evening, and everyone seemed to enjoy the fun and food, as heavy hors d’oeuvres were contributed by those attending.

Most of the pictures speak for themselves.

Joe Camel wore his raincoat.

Betty & Lynn had polar bear shirts, and Betty wore polar bear necklace and earrings.

Buffalo Wild Wings in Sierra Vista donated 5,000 chicken wings, along with various sauces plus lots of napkins in support of the event.

Below, the manager drew the winning ticket for the 50/50 drawing.

Susan Williamson claimed the cash prize.

These volunteers were thanked for their efforts to provide a successful fund raising event.

Susan & Bruce Williamson held the winning ticket for the 50/50. They generously donated their winnings back to the funds for the Food Bank.

Don & I really enjoyed seeing a lot of friends, but it was raining and growing darker every minute on our drive back to Tucson. Don did a great job of driving and making it safely through the rain and traffic.