We have a hurt puppy :(

As I mentioned in my last entry, Maya landed wrong after jumping off an easy chair at Paul and Joans on Tuesday. I don't think she had a very comfortable night as she woke us up a couple of times whimpering. There wasn't much we could do as she was laying under the bed and wouldn't come out. In the morning though, she seemed to be doing a bit better, in that she would move about although still wasn't putting any weight on her sore leg.
Yesterday we had made plans to meet up with Paul and Joan at the AMPS Model field. Paul and I would spend the afternoon flying while Joan and Chris went for pedicures. I had a great day flying. Managed 3 good flights with the jet while Paul did 4 or 5 with his smaller models.

I guess they don't get many guys flying jets at this club as mine generated quite few appreciative comments. It is a bit of a tight place to fly as they are about 4 Kms right off the end of a runway of a very busy full scale airport. They have a rigidly enforced maximum height limit of only 400' and I found it a bit of a challenge to stay under that.
After flying, we dropped my stuff off at the trailer and then met Paul and Joan at a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  All in all, a really nice day.
Maya had a better night last night, curling up on the bed and sleeping soundly all night. She was still not putting any weight on her leg this morning though so we decided we would take her to see a vet. I think it was a good thing we did, as it looks like she has torn her cruciate ligament.  These are a pair of ligaments behind the kneecap that hold the bones of the upper and lower leg together. Fortunately the vet doesn't think she will need surgery but will have to take it very easy for 4 to 6 weeks. That isn't going to be easy to get her to do! They did give her some anti inflamatories to help with the pain and reduce any swelling.
Otherwise, today was laundry day again and we managed to get that chore out of the way for another couple of weeks.
We have had a few more clouds around the last few days which has been making for some fantastic sunsets.  This is the one just as we were heading for dinner last night.

New digs for Feb.

Yesterday morning we pulled up stakes and, after saying our goodbyes, pulled out of Boomerville. It was a bit sad saying good bye to new friends we had got to know in the 3 weeks we were camped at the Boomerville site but both Chris and I were looking forward to some new vistas. Also, both our grey and black holding tanks were full to almost overflowing. I don't think we could have stayed another day without dumping even if we wanted to. Our first stop was at the RV Pit Stop where we were able to take care of that issue as well as fill an empty propane tank and our water tanks as well. After one more stop for fuel we headed East.
Rather than just stay on I-8 all the way we turned onto Hwy 60 after just a few kilometres and took it to Peoria. After one stop in Wickenburg for lunch and ice cream we carried on to our destination which is the Pleasant Valley Airport and RV Park.
We were here for 2 weeks last year and enjoyed our stay so decided to come back. The airport and RV park are run by Rick and Jenanne and their cockatoo BeeBop.
After getting set up we made a quick trip to Fry's to restock the fridge and pantry then back to the trailer for the evening.
We did contact our friends Paul and Joan Good and set up a visit for today.

Today started out with a quick stop at a different Fry's as the one yesterday didn't have a couple of items we needed. After that we met up with Paul and Joan for a couple hours.
While we were there, Maya, who was with us, jumped off their easy chair and must have landed a bit wrong as we noticed she was favouring her right rear leg. Chris checked her out and didn't find anything seriously amiss other than she was a bit sensitive when Chris was checking her knee. I suspect she landed a bit wrong and may have twisted it a bit. We will keep a close eye on it and if she doesn't show any improvement in a day or two may have to take her to see a vet.
One thing we both notice this year compared to last is how green everything is. Rick was saying they have had a couple of days of rain every month for 3 or 4 months so far. The forecast is also for some more rain this weekend. He is thinking that we may get to see the desert in full bloom earlier than usual this year.
While the nice weather would be desirable, I would love to see everything in bloom.

Boomerville wrap up

Well, Boomerville is now officially over for this year. While quite a few people have already left, there are still quite a few here, at least for tonight anyway.
After a fairly laid back day yesterday, most of us went into town to the Grubsteak Bar for the Hitch-Up dinner. For $12 they served up a choice of chicken or pulled pork along with a green salad and potato salad. Apparently the Boomers had some money left over from last year so they picked up half the food bill which was nice. Afterwards a few of us went over to DQ for dessert.
This morning after breakfast we made our last trip into the big tent as I needed to see the folks at Flag Pole Buddy. One section of my flag pole was starting to get pretty worn and they said that if I brought it in on the last day of the show, they would replace it free of charge which they did. Always nice to see good customer service!
We also wandered around a bit more and did another swing through the Tyson Wells shops as well before heading back to the trailer.
Chris had some apple pie filling left over from one of the snacks she had made a few nights ago, so she made up a bunch more small apple pie/tart things as well as some butter tarts. She served them up around the fire tonight and they went over incredibly well. It seems a lot of the Americans here have never heard of some of our Canadian snacks and pastries. Go figure!
While she was doing that, I was getting things put away and prepping the trailer for travel. Our plan is to pull out tomorrow morning and head toward Phoenix.
While I have very much enjoyed our time here and we have made a number of new friends, I am looking forward to a bit more sedate pace for a while.
A last couple of photos from Boomerville 2019.

 A fitting send off. The last sunset

While we haven't had a lot of fires in the evening, the last one tonight was the biggest and best I think.

Goodbye Boomerville! Hope to be back again next year.

CARE auction

Since my last entry, I am happy to say, the weather here has pretty much gone back to normal. The wind has died back to just a light breeze and the daytime temps are back up into the low 20's. The nights are still getting a bit cool, going down to 5 or 6C or so but as soon as the sun comes up it warms up fairly quickly.
Wednesday and yesterday, Chris had been doing quite a bit of baking, getting things ready for the CARE auction. C.A.R.E. stands for Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees. It is a non-profit located in Livingston, Texas started by Escapee members to help those members who can no longer travel or are recovering from injuries or illnesses. The various Escapee chapters and BoF's usually do some fundraising to help the organization operate.
Traditionally at Boomerville during the second week they do an auction. All the items up for auction have been donated either by Escapee members or by manufacturers or dealers in the RV industry. As we have the big RV show going on here now, quite a few items were donated by vendors at the show.
We had so many items donated that the auction, which started just after lunch, ran til about 4:30. They had 4 auctioneers taking turns and a bunch of "Vannas" showing the items.

The Vannas (photo lifted from the Boomers FB page.)

A small portion of the loot up for bids

A small portion of the attendees at the auction

One of Chris's cinnamon roll trays up for bid

The baking Chris was doing was for donation to the auction. She made up 4 pans of her world famous cinnamon buns with creme cheese icing as well as 2 pineapple upside down cakes.
There were a number of other baking items up for bid as well but Chris's stuff brought in the most money by far. Believe it or not, her baking brought a total of $296! Adding to that, one of her Swedish woven throws went for $85 bringing her total to just over $380!
They haven't announced a total yet but I expect the total revenue from the auction and other associated revenue generating things yesterday will probably come close to $8,000.

As yesterdays festivities went late into the afternoon, Chris and I decided to go out for dinner. We wound up at the "Times 3 Eatery" in town. Both of us chose the ribs special for $11.99. It was OK. There was plenty of food but I think they plated the sides well before the ribs were ready as when we received the plates, the sides were barely warm while the ribs themselves were hot. Can't really blame them too much as the place was packed as is almost every restaurant in town at this time of year.

Today after breakfast we went back into town to the big tent as there were a couple of items I wanted to pick up. We wandered around there and a couple of other places for a few hours until my right ankle started to get a bit sore, then headed back to camp arriving just around lunch time.

There was also a big group potluck dinner this afternoon. People started to gather around 3:30 and food was served just after 4.  We had a visit from Gerry and Marilyn Gerow who winter in Yuma this afternoon as well. They were also able to join us for the potluck.

Finally at sunset, the Desert Winds Twin Cinema fired up and we all enjoyed a showing of the Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz classic, "The Long Long Trailer"!

Oh, and the total that was announced after the potluck was just over $11,000. This was for everything generated in the last 2 weeks.

Wind, wind and more wind!

The last few days have been pretty much same old, same old, so I haven't felt the need to update things too much.
We have been hanging around Boomerville for the most part with only one quick trip into town today to pick up some more water which we shared with our neighbours.
Part of the reason for hanging in close is that it has been cold and very windy since Monday. The wind during the day has been gusting upwards of 60 KPH at times which makes it quite hard to do much out doors. Yesterday in fact it got so bad I took our flag pole down as I thought it might break as it was bending over so much.
We were supposed to do a community pot luck Monday but it was also cancelled due to the cold and the wind. It has been rescheduled for Friday along with a showing of the Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz classic, "The Long Long Trailer".
Yesterday we did get a chance to have a small gathering of some of the Canadians here. We did it in the lee of a strategically placed motor home and also used our truck to block some of the wind as well. If you look at our flag in these shots, you can get an idea of the wind and the heavy coats will illustrate the temperature.

Photo lifted from the Boomerville FB page.

The good news is that it looks like the worst is over! Yaaayyy! Very light winds and lots of sun in the forecast for the next while so hopefully we can get caught up on some outdoor stuff.
Oh, by the way, we are up to 222 registered rigs here as of about 6 PM! Possibly a new Boomerville record.

Sunday Flyday

To start with, yesterday was quite a busy day. I had thought about going flying in the morning but there was so much interesting stuff happening around Boomerville, I decided to stay here.
We started out with a pancake breakfast at 8 which took about an hour, then there was a good round table discussion on batteries and charger systems which took another hour and then through the afternoon I wound up helping a couple of the neighbours trouble shoot their solar systems.
Later in the afternoon was a chili cook off with 9 different chili dishes up for judging. They were all good but I found a couple that stood out. I think one of my favorites actually won the contest.

After that was the usual happy hour then the normal evening routines.

Today however, I did get to go flying. It was a nice sunny, no wind kind of day so I unpacked the jet, loaded up the truck and headed for the local flying field.

There were quite a few guys out, most of them with small electrics and a few with glow fueled engines. I was the only jet there which roused a fair bit of interest.
I managed to get 4 flights in but was having some issues with the engine. Flight #2 had a flame out only a minute into the flight and #4 had another one just before I was planning to land anyway. Fortunately I had lots of altitude and speed both times so was able to get back to the runway safely. I will have to do some investigating as to why.
After flying, Chris and I went back into town and wandered through the big tent at the RV show for a while. We didn't buy anything other than a huge bowl of ice cream for $5. After finishing that it was back to camp arriving just in time for happy hour.
One of the organizing crew here collects pictures of funny signs so after dinner and once the sun had gone down, he did a video presentation of his collection. Some of them were hilarious and had the whole group in stitches.
Tonight is also the lunar eclipse and as I write this the moon is half covered. There is quite a bunch out around the camp fire watching it. I will go out before bed when it should be fully occluded and the blood red moon visible.

Now and then

The other day I mentioned that I would post some before and current photos of Boomerville. Well, here they are. I took these from the roof of our trailer. The left hand of each pair was taken on Jan 6 just after we arrived at this camp site. The right one of each pair was taken yesterday when we had approx. 160 registered RV's for Boomerville. I tried to match them up as close as I could.
Keep in mind that this is just one small area of the desert around Quartzsite. There are 9 or 10 large areas that for the next couple of weeks will be packed with RV's.
You should be able to click on each photo to load the full sized version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night Redlands RV treated the Boomers and a bunch of others to a hosted BBQ at their temporary service facility in town. I am not sure how many were there but I would hazard a guess at between 350 and 450 or so. They served up pulled pork, BBQ brisket I think, beans and corn. There was some BBQ chicken as well but they were out when we got to the front of the line. There was also a full hosted bar which was also nice.