Update by Chris

Hi everyone. It has been a while since Rob has posted anything on the blog, so I am doing one.

We last left off where the truck was acting up again, and we were able to find a GM dealer in Cathedral City, CA (just outside of Palm Springs) to look at it back in November, and we are sorry to say, it had to have 4 fuel injectors, 4 bad pigtails (they had corrosion on one end) and 2 fuel rails replaced. It took over a week around US Thanksgiving to have the work done. In the meantime, we were able to have rental car paid for by GM. Thank goodness we got the truck back when we did because we needed to empty the trailer and I don’t think AVIS would be pleased if we used our portable black water tank in it. We are hoping after this, that the truck should be good.

While we were waiting for the truck, we hosted US Thanksgiving for the Escapee Boomers. We had a small turnout, total of 7 rigs including us. For the first group gathering, it was the perfect size. We had a couple of small units that had camped near us just after we got there for a couple of nights, and one of the units went to reposition and ended up getting stuck in the sand. So, Rob to the rescue. It took a little bit, did not use the truck, it was all digging and using some mats, and pushing of the van, they got it unstuck. As it turned out, we ended up helping 3 or 4 more vehicles after they got stuck in the sand or in a big hole using the truck to pull them out.

After the gathering at Joshua Tree wound down, we headed to Yuma where we spent all of December with Michael and Robin at their double RV lot in the foothills of Yuma. On Dec 31, we headed up to Lake Havasu City to spend a bit of time with Steve and Tammie, who we met last time we were down for the winter. They were looking for a house in a more temperate climate. They now have an offer on a house which is pending and they just recently put their house in Grand Junction, Colorado up for sale.

By the middle of the first week of January this year, we headed back to Quartzsite and stayed at La Posa South LTVA area for a few days and then emptied the tanks and filled with water and headed over to the area for the Escapees Boomers yearly Boomerville gathering. This location is just off Plomosa Rd at mile marker 3 north of Quartzsite. This will be our first large gathering since COVID started.

During Boomerville, they hold an auction for the Escapees C.A.R.E (Continuing Assistance to Retired Escapees). This organization is where you can go and get assistance during any type of health issue while you are traveling or done traveling and do not have a home to go to. It is all volunteer based, so they need donations to stay running and volunteers to help. The hosts of Boomerville weren’t sure if there was going to be an auction, but, there was, and I ended up being a co-chair for it. I wasn’t planning on being as hands on with the auction as I was. I still did do some baking for the auction though. Overall, with donations for pancakes made by Gretchen, cinnamon buns by me and the proceeds and some other donations for the auction, the Boomers raised $10,0001.00 for CARE. Considering this was the first auction in 2 years, we did pretty good.

We are now at the Imperial Dam LTVA area just outside of Yuma till around the middle of February, and then we will be heading over to the Yuma Aeromodellers RC airplane field for their annual airshow. Not sure if Rob will be flying in it again though. We will see when we get there.

Saturday we made a quick day trip to Los Algodones. As you cross the border into Baja Mexico, there are quite a few people that ask you if you need a dentist or a pharmacy, as this is one of the places that a lot of snowbirds will flock to for dental and cheaper meds. We haven’t been to any there, but the prices are supposed to be much cheaper than back home, even with eyeglasses. We noticed that the vendors around the area have become very aggressive in trying to get you to buy from them. I did not feel comfortable enough to stop and look at a lot of stuff in case they got too pushy in forcing me to buy stuff. On that note, we did end up buying some items. Rob picked up another Los Algodones jacket, black this time with the 3 lizards in color and a nice tablecloth for the RV at one vendor and then as we went through a courtyard, we saw one vendor that was selling stained glass windows that you can put in the door window of your RV. In all, we spent around $175 US while there. Oh, and I bought a 4 litre bottle of vanilla for $11.64 US. I couldn’t resist it at that price. Not sure how long that will last.