Leaving UT

After our first week of work, we took a trip along Scenic Byway 12 in southern UT and ended up at Bryce Canyon for some great views and then had dinner and a fantastic cowboy show at Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill just outside Bryce. The pastor of the church we attended on Sunday and his brother along with the pastor’s wife and three other fellows make up the Bar G Wranglers. They put on a great show that we liked so much we went back again last week. The work in Hatch is so taxing we have been to the chiro each week. The third time at the chiro' s Larry was telling him how he has been feeling: dizzy, short of breathe, nauseated, unable to sleep and his blood pressure which is usually low was very high. The chiro suggested he may have altitude sickness. After checking all the symptoms on the net, we came to the conclusion the altitude (7,000 ft) was indeed, affecting Larry so we gave a two week notice and yesterday was our last day of work. We will leave tomorrow morning (Mon July 2) for La Pine, OR (4200 ft). We did take another side trip to see Capitol Reef National Park before we left the area. The reds there seem to be much redder than Bryce and the cliffs are slick as opposed to spires. We ate lunch in a nice picnic area and were joined by a deer that was totally unafraid of people. We have met some very interesting folks, many from foreign countries and our month here has been quite a learning experience. We have made a few friends and exchanged contact information with them so we can keep in touch. We have to remember that God is in control and “all things work together for good”. We are looking forward to returning to OR.

Capitol Reef National Park

Our lunch spot at Capitol Reef

Head of the Rocks on Scenic Byway 12, Grand Staircase Escalante, UT

Bryce Canyon National Park

On the way to Kodachrome State Park, UT

Bar G Wranglers at Ebenezer's Barn and Grill, Bryce Canyon

Buffalo outside of Hatch, UT

Starting the summer in UT

We started the month celebrating our son’s 50th birthday with a party at the clubhouse in the park. We had a great time! All the family was able to come except one grandson who had school and a test that he aced which was great also.

Us chowing down at Todd's 50th birthday party

Birthday boy and his cake.

Grandma admiring granddaughter Cerét's new engagement ring. We had a sudden thunder and lightning storm where the temperature dropped from 95º to 70 º in just a few minutes which was a welcomed relief from the heat. We then celebrated our son-in law’s birthday by going to Red Lobster. Oh, how I love their cheese biscuits! We had a very nice waitress who gave us some to take home which was super nice. (Larry gave her an extra tip.)

Vince's birthday celebration at Red Lobster

Bethany and Colby at Red Lobster

Larry, Vince and Dawn at Red Lobster. Larry has been trying to get an appointment with the VA for chiropractic for three months and finally was able to get one. Then the chiropractor wanted to see him twice more before we left AZ and we were able to get in by cancellations, the last appt. on Friday morning before we left! We stayed in AZ much longer than we normally would because our granddaughter, Bethany graduated from HS on May 24 and we left May 25. The whole family was together again for the graduation and afterwards we all went to TGI Fridays for eats and cake. The graduation was outside on the football field but the weather wasn’t too bad as it was not 100º and there was a breeze which helped a lot!

Proud Mom, Dawn, Bethany the graduate, and brother, Colby right after the ceremony

Cerét, Vince, Dawn, Bethany, Colby, Dad Bob, and Shane

Bethany at TGI Fridays after graduation

Todd and LaTia at TGI Fridays

Alex and Shane at TGI Fridays

The yummy brownie/cookie cake Cerét made for her cousin's graduation. Friday after the VA appt. we went as far as Cordes Junction and spent two nights there since the winds were really bad on Saturday. We drove the car to Prescott to say good-bye to Larry’s Mom on Saturday.

Larry and his Mom in Prescott just before we left AZ. We changed our plans at basically the last minute and took a workamper job at a Motel and RV Park in Hatch, UT for the summer. Hatch is between Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. It is a town of 133 people with the nearest grocery, bank, hardware store etc 15 miles away and the nearest WalMart 85 miles away! We work three and a half days a week and have three and a half days off. Our first day on the job was a lulu as all but one of the motel rooms was sold and we have to clean them. I have a new appreciation for motel/hotel maids!! There are only eight rooms and 17 RV sites which doesn’t sound like a lot until you go to change the sheets on 11 beds and clean 11 bathrooms! There is a gas station/convenience store connected with the Motel/RV Park and Larry is working in the gas station from 5-10 PM the days we work. One thing that really surprises me is 75% of the folks I’ve checked in are from Europe! Denmark, Austria, Germany, France that I remember.

Our view to the east with the old RV that draws lots of attention at the RV park where we are working

The five standard rooms of the motel (the other three rooms are suites)

Our site with the gas station where Larry works in the background. I’m hopeful we will get to see some parts of UT we have not seen before in our days off throughout the summer and have some cool pictures to post next time.

April very busy for Us

We started April off with a run to the VA for Larry's hearing test. He is getting a new hearing aid as the old one is seven years old and there is new technology and he needs a new one as his hearing has become worse. He will not get the new hearing aid until the middle of May as that was the next appt. he could get! We enjoyed the monthly breakfast at the clubhouse and checked out the new Winco food store that opened in Phoenix. We are familiar with Winco as we have been to the one in Springfield, OR several times over the years when we spent so much time at Camp Monaco. They do have good prices and had some really nice opening "specials" that we took advantage of. One of Larry's friends stopped by and brought us a peanut butter pie, something I had never heard of but it was good and tasted like a Reese's cup with graham cracker crust. Larry has been diligently working on the trailer, putting in a false floor so he can use it when the car is out as well as re-doing the ramp that was slick when it rains and extremely shiny when the sun hit it almost to the point it blinded you. He cut the extensions flaps to reduce weight, roughed up the aluminum so he could paint it black and then put anti skid tape where the car drives in. The anti skid tape is yellow and black (what else?) but we know the yellow will turn color quickly once the car goes in. Anyway it looks nice now!

The new false floor in the trailer so Larry can utilize it better when the car is removed.

Larry roughing up the aluminum prior to painting it.

The ramp all painted and the anti skid tape applied. Looks good now but wait until we use it! Our long time SS teacher went home to be with Jesus after a brief illness and we went to the Memorial Service where we saw many friends we hadn't seen in a long time. It really was nice seeing so many folks and catching up on their "doin's". It is so comforting to know we will see him again when it is our turn to 'go home'. While Larry was busy working on the trailer I got ambitious and Aerospace 303 UV protected the roof of the motorhome. It is something that has needed to be done for a long time and is supposed to be done every six months. We do it about every three years! Since the motorhome is meant to be used and moved every few weeks, we went to Apache Junction for one night and stopped at Camping World in Mesa both going and coming and bought a telescoping fire escape ladder for the bedroom. We tried it out while we were in AJ and it worked like a champ! Now to just get ourselves out the window faster! That will take some serious practice!

Our site in Apache Junction for an overnight

New clean out port in the black tank. When we returned from AJ, Larry dumped the black tank and cleaned it out good and then put a inspection port clean out in the end of the tank. He was able to see what he suspected was the problem, the evacuation pipe is about 1/2" higher than the tank bottom so 'stuff' accumulates right at the exit and doesn't allow everything to evacuate. He also repaired the water flusher so hopefully, now we know for sure what the problem is, we won't have any more issues but if we do, it will be fairly easy to fix now we have the clean out port. Last but not least, our internet went off on Sat. night around 9PM. It turns out the company we were with was taken over by another company and somehow the new company had our email address wrong so we received none of the three emails sent to us telling us of the change! All is well again with a phone call to the new company on Monday morning. Ah, the challenges of fulltiming!!

Lots going on during March

Where we parked at the Yuma County Fairgrounds for the Gypsy Journal Rally in Yuma, AZ


The 'Cactus Queen' contest at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Yuma. What a hoot!


This cracked me up as we came into the campground!


The campground at Pilot Knob, CA where we stayed after the Gypsy Journal Rally in Yuma


We never knew this is why the campground is called Pilot Knob Amazing the things you learn when you go exploring!


Someone put a lot of work into this. We found it while exploring outside Pilot Knob


Us on the Yamaha outside the Bard church


Us at the Bard Community Center in Bard, CA


Street dancer in Algodones, Mexico


Colby, the birthday boy


Vince and Dawn at Colby's birthday party


Colby and Bethany after she came home from work (she didn't attend the party at Spinnato's)


The new washer/dryer combo. The new one has several nice features the nine year old one did not have.


The old washer/dryer combo


The platform Larry made to pull the washer/dryer combo out of the bedroom


Jeanne and Ellen after our lunch together. We hadn't seen each other in 48 years!


A hot air balloon over our place in Phoenix


We started March out by going to Yuma, AZ to the Gypsy Journal Rally at the Yuma County Fairgrounds. It was the first GJR we have attended and enjoyed ourselves very much. They have many seminars and a good amount of vendors for a small Rally. The best part of the rally was we changed our insurance and saved $700 a year! We then went to Pilot Knob in Winterhaven, CA so we could go back to Algodones for Larry's teeth. We usually don't go to CA but we left the trailer in Phoenix and took the Yamaha for our transportation instead. It worked out really well and we averaged 8.25 mpg on the MH for the trip (a little over 400 miles). We rode the motorcycle 18 miles to church to see friends from OR who do the worship service in Bard, CA and had a great service, ride and then ate at the Q (buffet at the casino about a mile from the campground) since there really wasn't much of a choice. It was a bit more than we like to pay for lunch but the food was really good.

Larry had his teeth re-lined and bought two pair of glasses and I had my teeth cleaned when we went to Algodones. We enjoyed fish tacos at Johnnie's in Algodones where we usually eat when we are there. The price went up 25¢ each but that's the first price increase in four years so we can't complain too much.

When we returned to Phoenix, the washer/dryer combo started 'acting up' and since Camping World had them on sale we bought a new one. It was a real ordeal to get the old one out and the new one in. We had to take the doors off the refrigerator as well as all the doors and drawers down the hall. The only problem was the new w/d didn't fix the problem! Further investigation revealed a power issue with the coach and after diligent research, Larry tracked it down to two issues, one a loose connection. Since there was nothing wrong with the old washer/dryer combo we quickly sold it on Craig's List to try to re-coop some of our 'outgo'. The new washer/dryer washes bigger loads and drys the loads much faster than the old one so there are some pluses to the big expense.

Our second grandson, Colby turned 23 and we had a family dinner party for him at Spinnato's Pizza followed by cake and ice cream at Dawn and Vince's.

Larry had a problem with his Mac computer and we took it in to the Apple Store in Arrowhead. It is fixed now with a new logic board which, PTL, didn't cost us anything since he purchased Apple Care when he purchased the computer two years ago.

We had lunch with my growing up next door neighbor and her husband on March 30. It was the first time we had seen each other in 48 years and we had a great time reminiscing.

That night we went to a Seder put on by our Messianic Fellowship with Dawn and Vince and had a great time, met some great people, laughed a lot, ate too much, sang too much and didn't dance.