Change in plans

Hi everyone! You know when they say "if it can go wrong, it will!" Well, we've had a BIG change of plans. Ed's moms' roommate moved out a couple of weeks ago. He expected to buy Mary's (Ed's mom) mobile home and Ed's brother Norm didn't want to sell. Ed, Norm and Mary are all on the title. Norm just recently found out that he was on it and he wants it for a winter retirement home. So Jerry got mad and moved out without warning. Needless to say, our whole life has been turned upside down.

What makes it even more interesting is we are getting ready to buy a house in SunCity West, AZ. The closing is May 13th and then we all go to Panguitch, Utah. We already committed ourselves to work at the KOA there, so Mary is going to be with us. If she doesn't like it or can't handle it, Ed will bring her back to Bullhead City and stay with her. I will stay up there and work and come down to visit.

As you can see from the picture we also have a dog in our lives now. This is Bentley, and he's Mary's dog. I take him for walks and he wants to be petted all the time (typical dog!)

That's it for now-thank God! Take care everyone, Vicki & Ed

Death Valley National Park

We are finally taking a vacation! Sounds funny for retired people. We have got a month before our next KOA job in Panguitch, Utah. Our first stop is Death Valley for a little warmth. The temperature was around 90 degrees and 60 at night. It was great! Also, alot less wind! We saw alot of stuff and some unique scenery. It's a worthwhile place to see, but not in the summer. In the year 1913 was the highest recorded temp-134 degrees, also in the same year the coldest temp for there-15 degrees and this year was also the wettest-4.54 inches of precipitation. we did miss some things because alot of the special things are on dirt roads and we were on the motorcycle with the little trailer doing some true camping. On to the nextstop.

Camping at Lake Mead

After Death Valley, we continued on to Lake Mead, where we were excited to find a beautiful campground and a spot open with a view of the lake. We stayed here for 3 days and had a great time. Right by here is the Hoover Dam and a neat trail to get there. It's called the Railroad Tunnel Trail and is 3.7 miles one way to the dam. We went on it and it goes through 5 tunnels and old railway bed. When the dam was being built they made a railway to the dam site to carry supplies and materials. This was in the 1930's and in 1961 they finally took it apart. It makes a great trail. After that I had to recuperate for the rest of the day. It doesn't take long to get out of shape-again! On the 19th of April I will be heading up to Anchorage. Ed will join me where we will drive my Subaru to Panguitch, Utah where we will be for the summer again. We enjoyed it there so much and didn't get to see everything. We will be at the KOA and enjoying the cool weather. So Long For Now, Vicki & Ed

Using ingenuity to finish drainig pool

New vanities for our Campground

Well, it took us 2 months to redo the sinks in both restrooms. The top picture is the before and the bottom is the after one. We did the women's first. It took forever! The walls weren't straight-either was the floor! All the plumbing was from the dark ages and was different sizes. After at least 10 trips to the hardware store which is 70 miles one way and of course getting our days off, we finally finished. If you don't look close, it looks good-which is a miracle since we didn't know what we were doing.

Now we are working on the pool. It should be dug out and redone but that costs $54,000.00. So we are doing the cheaper version in which we do alot of the prep. A vinyl lining is going to be put in and new pavers around the outside. That's going to be around $27,000.00. We broke the tile up with hammers and are taking off the ladders and other stuff on it. We had to drain it with too small a hose on the sump pump so that took a week. Now Ed is pressure washing it and then he has to grind the rough spots. Thank God we won't be here when the lining arrives! That will be something for the new workkampers to have fun with.

Oh well, all in all, we've had alot of fun here and learned alot of practical things to help us in the future. So long for now, Vicki & Ed

Hanging out in Seligman

All's I can say is "I'm sure glad I brought Alaskan winter clothes!" We got alitttle snow a few days ago and it looks like the high might hit 40 degrees today. At night it's been right around 15 degrees. We are surviving, though, with 3 small electric heaters and 1 more in our 5th wheel hatch to keep the water lines warm.

Last week we took a motorcycle ride with our little trailer and stayed at the Needles, CA KOA. It was about 60 and low 30's at night. It took me about 10 minutes to get dressed and undressed. I was wearing 2 pair of socks and then fleece snow machine ones. And then I had on two long underwear under my levis and two long underwear shirts on plus two more warm shirts with my leather jacket. Also leather chaps, boots, fleece neck protector, and snow machine gloves. Needless to say, we almost needed a crane to get me on the bike! It was fun though, and we saw Quartzsite on a ride the next day. There had to have been 10,000 rv's at least parked out in the desert. Alot of people go there every winter to meet up with friends and have fun.

Well, that's all for now-I just wanted to say Hi! and let everyone know that I still think of all of you and hope you are enjoying your lives too. You got to do it while you can, because you never know what the future holds. Love you all, Vicki & Ed

Winter in the Grand Canyon

Hi everyone! We went to the Grand Canyon a couple of days ago because I've always wanted to see it with snow. And as you can see by this picture it was spectacular! Enjoy the view! Vicki