Monday in California

Early Monday morning we took off for San Diego, H wanted to shorten the trip by taking a turn off onto Rt. 79. Distance may be shorter for where we were going, but the road is a constant turning, twisting maze. Actually took us longer to get to Christa's.

We went to Coronado to have lunch at the Coronado Hotel and walk on the beach. The day was beautiful except for a marine haze that hung over the coast all day.

Christa on the phone. This is where we ate, outside on the deck.


This tree is in a previously burned out area on our long twisting road. We stayed until about 9PM then drove back to Yuma. It was a fast rip back, hardly any traffic. Up in the mountains it is so dark, looking up at the stars was amazing, one can see stars that can never be seen near a city.

Sunset in Yuma

Last night was a beautiful sunset after a cloudy cool day, the sun came out about half-hour before sunset. I wish I could paint, the colors out here can be spectacular.

Hummingbird

We put up a feeder 2 days ago, finally today the hummingbirds found it, actually we put another one up on the back window, it has not been used yet.

Today we restrung this day/night shade, it broke the day we arrived. H ordered the supplies and they came yesterday. We used the computer for step by step instructions. We were putting it back together when the power went off, considering it was 93 degrees today, it can get warm inside without the air on. we turned on the generator, not for air conditioning, but decided it would be a good time to run it for a while. Power was back on within the hour.
The moon coming up before sunset on Monday night.
As evening approaches, the foothills take on a golden appearance, really pretty.
Our neighborhood.

Christa came from San Diego to visit last week, she stayed over and returned on Thursday. We had a good visit, played some games and ate at Cracker Barrel, her favorite restaurant that is not available in California.
H and I have been walking every day, even though the daytime temps are in the 90's, it is supposed to cool down this weekend to the 80's. I like warm, but not hot. We have been running the air all day. At least it cools off at night. Hobbes likes the warm weather, he loves to sit outside as long as we let him.
We did join a community club so we can swim. We are on a private lot, not in a resort, so we don't have all the amenities, but it is a lot cheaper. The community club has activities as well as the pool, jam sessions, cards, suppers, and special events.
No pics because my memory card for the camera was damaged, and I had to buy a new card. Just picked one up today, hope to get some pics tomorrow.

Arizona

I took these pics as we were driving on Monday to Yuma, across I-8.



I love the starkness of the landscape.

Hobbes enjoying the sun in Yuma, but not the wind, it bothers his ears. This is our spot for the winter, we have a brick fence around the back and on the one side.

There is a wash behind us, I have been told there are snakes there, I'm sure there are. The foothills are just to the east of us. Pic above right is what I see from the computer desk window. H just took the bikes down from the back. Pic below right is the lot where the owners of these several lots stays for the winter.

Arrived in Yuma

We arrived in Yuma, AZ yesterday at about 2PM Arizona time. They are not on DST, so we are 3 hours earlier than Ohio. Sunday we will be back to just 2 hours earlier. Yesterday was 95 degrees here, we set up then H and our neighbor Ray set up the Direct TV dish, took longer than we thought it would. We were all red and dripping.
After the dish was up and and TV on, we found out we can not get local stations on it, because we have local stations at home, to get something here might take up to 3 months. So we are going to put 1 Direct TV box on vacation, we bought a small digital TV and hooked it up to our antennae. We had to take out our old small TV in the bedroom, which required moving the TV back onto a shelf as we pulled the door open that it was fastened to, the unscrewing multiple screws to get another shelf out then lowering the TV down behind the door. Much harder than it sounds. But of course, nothing is easy, after moving the antennae every which way, we could get NBC, ABC, Fox, and a bunch of Hispanic stations, but not CBS. CBS is the most important because it is the station with "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race". Finally we found it, just took a slight crank on the antennae knob and we were there.
Today when we got up the sun was out and the temp climbed to 90, but has since dropped with the front that is coming thru with strong winds whipping up the sand. We are staying in the foothills and right now can barely see the outline of them due to the blowing sand. Not good to be breathing that.
I also did some cleaning today, but with all this sand blowing it will probably be dusty by AM.
H is outside right now putting some weights on the dish tripod so hopefully the wind won't blow it over.

Petroglyphs

While in Albuquerque, we also visited the Petroglyph National Monument. These pics are of some of the stones there.

The native Americans often scratched pictures onto rocks with tools to either show their culture, directions, weather, or for some unknown reason. There are many areas in the Southwest where these can be found.

We left Albuquerque early Sunday AM and drove to Willcox, AZ. The weather was warm and got breezy in afternoon. Tomorrow we will arrive in Yuma. The cat will be so happy. This morning Hobbes hid, I had to hunt for him, he was under a chair, he did not want to get back in the truck for another day of driving. He watches what we are doing, when he sees certain items being moved he knows we are leaving again. I kind of feel the same way, there is no place I can hide in the 5th wheel.