March and April in Havasu 2016

A lot of things were "stuffed" into March and until our leaving in  mid April.  On 3/2 we met Brian (OT from work),  Janet and Diedra our "surrogate" daughters, and their friends Wally, Jobin,  and Cameron at College Street Brewery.  This was a fun place to meet friends and eat.  We also went there when our friends Charlie and Kathy came through town on 3/30.  We met them in Yuma last year.  They were on their way back to Minnesota and stopped by for the evening.  We had a great time catching up on everything.  Our last trip to College Street was on 4/14, the night before my last day at work.  Kirk and I met my co-workers there and had a great, sad evening.  Saying goodbye is never easy.  These were a great bunch of people to work with, and I will miss them dearly.

I believe they were all doing the AZ basketball dance. 

What a smile!   What did you just see Janet?

Kathy and Charlie.  Met in Yuma.  Live in Minnesota. 

My Peeps!   Joannie, Lourd, Dan, Erin, Brian, me, Kirk.  

On 3/10, Kirk took the RV in to have the front air conditioner replaced, and the toppers on the slide outs replaced.  Tiffin paid half for the air conditioner as we found insulation in it from when Tiffin had redone our ceiling a year ago.

Our site at Havasu RV Resort 

Chuy:  On 3/12 we took Chuy to the vets.  His cough was just not getting better.  A year ago, when in St Cloud, we were told he had a collapsed trachea and that was the reason for the cough.  Well, it was now getting worse, so we took him in to see if there was anything at all we could do to make him more comfortable.  To make a long story short, Chuy was found to have an enlarged heart.  The vet did extensive cardiac workups, blood work, ultrasounds, x-rays, etc.  He was in the late stages, and the vet was very surprised to see how well he looked for being so bad.  He was also in congestive heart failure.  It was so sad to watch him suffer.  On 4/1, after getting off work, we took him into the vet and sent him to be with Lily.  It has been a very sad time for us, and especially for Kirk.

He's such a ham!

Always so cute when he slept. 

Loved looking out the window.  He always knew he was safe inside. 

Lily and Chuy.  Together again! 

On St Patricks Day, Kirk and I decided we needed to go out and have corned beef and cabbage.  We went to Pennington's Pub.  This was a fun place.  We had gone there as the night before we stopped by to buy tickets for the Britt Invasion of the Beatles Review which was going to be held 3/18.  While eating outside, we found out our friends Janet and Dee were inside at the bar.  We had a great night together.  The next night we met them again to see the Beatles Review Band.  Janet and her friend Wally, Wally's parents (Beverly and Walter), Dee, Jobin, and a few others I didn't know.  A great night!  Kirk danced with all the girls, of course.

Green beer at Penningtons Pub. 

The crew at Penningtons for the Beatles Review.  Love these guys!

Dee, Brian, 2 people I don't know, Beverly, Walter, Wally, Janet, me, and Kirk.  Great night!

Easter Sunday, 3/17, was a quiet day.  Kirk cooked a ham while I piddled around the RV.  I was pretty productive though, and even organized my closet and all my yarn.  I'm sure this made Kirk very happy.

Drive in the dessert past down the road from our park.   Blooming cactus! 

Beautiful Arizona sunset.   

On 3/29 I found out my next assignment would be at the Wisconsin Dells.  I had worked there 2 years ago.  Amy, my boss there called and said their SLP had resigned and if I would be interested.  I'm hoping this lasts all summer, as we will be staying at Chapparal Campground in Wonewoc with many of our friends, and be close to our families (within driving distance anyway).

There's a rainbow in there somewhere 

This rainbow you can see. 

On 4/3 Kirk and I played our last round of golf at Emerald Canyon in Parker.  We loved that course.

Janet and Dee decided they were going back to Florida, at least for a while.  We had a going away dinner with them, Wally, Jobin, and Wally's mom, Beverly at Barley's Brewery.  We had not been there before and wanted to try it.  It was a fun place and looked out at the London Bridge.   We will miss Jan and Dee very much.

We really didn't want to say goodbye!!!!   

Janet and Dee hitting the road.   Keep in touch ladies!!!

4/13 there was a dessert fire near Needles, CA at Topock and Pirates Cove area.  The smoke and smell blew all the way over to Havasu.  We even made the national news.

You can see the smoke rolling into Havasu from Topock.   

My last day of work was 4/15.  I was not looking forward to this day.  My co-workers in the therapy department have been awesome.   My boss, Erin, gave me a Havasu coffee/water mug, and some chocolates.  Sophie, who works in the kitchen and serves T hall every morning became a good friend to me.  She had planned a pizza party for lunch that day, along with the residents in that dining room.  I arrived for lunch, only to find lots of pizza, salad, chips and salsa, balloons, flowers,  and cards.  One of the nurses, Tracy, even made a homemade ice cream cake.  They will surely be missed.  Each of the residents gave me a hug.  Saying goodbye is the hardest part of my job.  I would return to this job in a heartbeat.

The T Hall gang on my last day of work. 

My beautiful flowers

My partner in crime on T Hall.  Thank you for everything Sophie.   Love and miss you. 

Start of Lake Havasu City adventure 2015

After one relaxing day to recuperate from our 2500 mile trip, I started my job at Lake Hills Inn on 11/9.  I had been contacted by email on our trip to Havasu by the company I would be working for, asking me to cover in Bullhead City (an hour from Lake Havasu) for 3 days my first week, and one day in Kingman (also an hour).  I felt obligated to do so, but, oh boy was I sorry I did. This just aggravated my previous exhaustion to the limits.  OH well, I soon recovered and chalked that one up to a lesson learned.

We were told by those staying in our park about a fun little place to eat that was fairly close, called Blondies.  This is a small bar and restaurant.  They have a nice little patio with grass-like umbrellas, or you can eat inside.  A lot of the RV locals go there.    Our first 2 weeks here, Kirk was able to take two bike rides.  One with a group from the park to Quartzite, eating at Silly SAMs, and the other with a group from town (The Hangover group) to Parker and California  where they ate at Dumas Walkers in California. 

On 11/21 Kirk and I took the local ferry boat, which is located down by the London Bridge, over to the casino at Havasu Landing on the California side.  The boat ride takes about 20 minutes.  The casino is very small, has a small restaurant, and is very smokey.  We probably won't return, mostly because of the smoke smell.    Earlier in the day, we had attended the Mud, Sand, and RV event at the Havasu State Park.  It was pretty small, yet interesting, and something to do.  Not much for RV's though.  They had a couple of 5th wheels, and class C's and that was it.  Around here, people are more into the Razor's, boating, fishing, etc.

             London Bridge

  Picture from ferry boat of Havasu State Park

11/22 we went on a motorcycle ride with our neighbors, Paul and Bev (Canadian's), and their friends, Mark and Nola.  We rode to Parker Dam where we saw Burro's along the roadside, down to Quartzite, ate at Silly Sam's for lunch and then rode back.  On our way back we stopped at Sundance in Parker for drinks.  This is a neat place on the River and the building itself has some history.  A little side note here, while dismounting our bike upon arriving at Sundance, my foot was caught in the side bag, and I slowly fell to the ground.  How embarrassing!  i was fine, but later realized my elbow was a little "puffy" and determined it was an olecranon bursitis.  Been wearing an elbow sleeve since.  No infection though.  Yay! (i guess).

Kirk and I celebrated Thanksgiving this year (11/26) by me working and him cooking :).  I came home to an awesome meal of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls,  corn (from our summer harvest), and pumpkin pie.  I just may work every holiday if this is what I will be coming home to each time.  Plenty of turkey left over to freeze for future meals.

I decided I needed boots for going on motorcycle rides, so Kirk and I drove to Bullhead City to Kohl's.  I found some pretty nice looking boots, and even though they aren't riding boots, they look better than my tennis shoes on the bike.  After shopping, we drove down 95 and ended up at the Desert Bar in Parker.  This is a bar in the desert.  You will want to have a fairly reliable vehicle to get there.  Although, we saw regular cars driving to and from there, it made me wonder.  This road is not paved.  It is more of a bumpy, narrow, rocky path.  By the time we arrived at the bar, I was exhausted from being jostled around so much.  Believe me though, I would do it over and over again.  It was a great, and beautiful experience.  We went on Sunday, the last day of a 4-day Thanksgiving weekend for many people.  Along the road there, you could see where people go out in the desert and target shoot.  A lot of people drive their razors, quads, etc to this place.  It is only open on Saturdays/Sundays from October to May.  It is ran soley on solar power.  I did see they have large propane tanks.  They do have flush toilets.  The food is great.  Every year, the owner adds something new to the place, so it is advised that you visit whenever in the area to see the upgrades.

Road to the Desert Bar

Almost there

You can see the solar panels that provide all the electricity 

The walk over to the bar

An old church. Historical. And Kirk. 

View from parking lot. 

Picture from the walk over.  Just a cool place.