March - 2020

Spoiled

Well we made it to March 2020!  This is my birthday month, so let's get the party started!  We started the month out with Terry in Colorado enjoying the snow with our son Michael and I was sitting here in Benson with our dog Scout, starring at broken food.  Luckily, there was a bunch of repaired food in the fridge and freezer, so I didn't starve.   I picked Terry up at the airport on the 5th, so all is good with food.  Every year, Terry goes skiing with Michael and since I don't ski, I stayed home with the dog to save some money.  It was kinda a bummer since this was Michael's 21st birthday, but I will see him in the summer, so all is still good.  Terry had to brag about the hotel room she was staying at because it had remote controls for the curtains.  Isn't she just a fancy pants.  This month we had a GD Rally in Vegas that we signed up for.  This rally is always a fun one to go to and we looked forward to it.

Elvis?

But until then, we have shows right here in our campground.  At least until we got back from Vegas when they cancelled all the shows for the rest of the season.  But we did catch a few until we left.  One was a Elvis Impersonator.  He did a good job, not only does he sing good, but he gives history about the performer.  We had seen him before impersonating someone else.
We also checked out Kartchner Caverns State Park which is just down the road from the camp ground...OK maybe 20 miles down the road.  As with most caverns, we had to make a reservation to do it.  They have two separate caverns and we thought we were doing the Big room but I guess we selected the Rotunda Tour instead.  So we arrive with camera's in hand just to find out that cameras were not allowed.  This is the first cavern that we have visited that cameras weren't allowed in.  We were told because the paths are narrow and they didn't want anyone falling.  This is also the first cave where the temp was around 71 degrees with 99% humidity.  Once we started the tour and throughout the tour, we were looking for the narrow section and dangerous areas.  We saw nothing.  The paths were paved, wide and had hand rails through out.   I think this is the only cave they have been in.  As you know, we have been in a lot of caves and this is nothing really special.  In fact, I don't even know if it's worth the trip.  It's a wet warm cave with poor lighting.  In most caves, they have the special features lit up so you can see them.  In this cave, the guide lights up the special features with a flash light.  So we won't be visiting that cave again...at least by ourselves.  I would show you the pictures, but like I said, that wasn't allowed.
 

Rum!

So on the 10th we headed out to Vegas.  Since it was like an eight hour drive and we are retired, we decided to break up the trip by stopping a few times before arriving there.  Our first stop was BLM land at Quartzsite, AZ where we spent the night.  Then on to Kingman AZ where we stopped at the Desert Diamond Distillery.  They are part of the Harvest Host network and we were able to spend the night in their parking lot.  While there, we did partake in some Rum tasting.  They do everything from start to finish with their liqueurs  They said most distilleries don't do that, most buy the base liqueur from large distilleries.  To me, most of the rums I tasted, tasted like Wild Turkey.
 

2-person band at the Rally

The next day, we did the final 2 hour push to the Oasis RV Resort in Las Vegas.  I know these long days are tiring, but I've been trained to handle this stress.  The rally itself is similar to all other rallies,  there is seminars, meals, and at this one rally, we also had a Camp Crawler activity where you go from RV to RV trying different drinks, But it was rainy for most of the rally, so we had it inside instead.  One night it was nice and and a little two person band played for us.

Land Shark!

Oh did I tell you that Terry got attacked by a land shark?  I have pictures to prove it.  We also got a nice swag bag when we arrived.  The wagon masters for this rally hands out some nice items for the swag bag.  For example we received a couple nice large glasses and even a blue tooth speaker.  We also scored a hand towel, pressure regulator, a GD Hat and for a small price, a cordless Dremel!  Funny story on the pressure regulator,  last month, our pressure regulator gauge froze one night, so it was reading 90 PSI instead of 45 PSI.  So I bought a new gauge so I can get the correct reading.  I wouldn't have done that, if I knew I was going to win one.  (Jeret, on the next rally, can you let me know a head of time what I am going to win?  thanks in advance!)  We also picked up another "RV Airflow" device for our front AC unit.  If you don't remember, this device redirects the air in the AC directly to the vents.  This gives a much better airflow through the ducting.  Also Grand Design is going to start installing them in there units at the factory starting in June or so.

Hell's Kitchen Restaurant

Since this is my birthday month and we were in Vegas, we went to the strip to have dinner and a show.  For dinner, we hit up "Hell's Kitchen".  We went here last year too and the food was awesome both then and now.  We started with a meatball app, then followed that up with a Beef Wellington.   Both were very tasty!.  For dessert, the restaurant brought out a Sticky Toffee Pudding with ice cream and a candle on top!.  That was really good too.  The show we have tickets for is the Jeff Dunham show.  Him and his puppets, but I heard one of the puppets were sick so they had to reschedule the show.  Really, they postponed the show at 10 that morning.  We didn't find out until we were just getting ready to head to the strip.  Oh well.  We also heard they closed down the strip completely the next day (Mon 16th). All because of a virus scare.  Here are the pictures from the Vegas adventure.

We also found out Sunday night that this is the last Las Vegas Rally.  We outgrew the RV Park.  That's OK though, there is plenty of Rallies around the country that we can visit.
We started the trip back on Monday the 16th.  We were planning on stopping to see my Aunt in Lake Havasu, but with the virus scare and since we were just in Vegas, both my aunt and I thought it would be better to not see each other right now.  So instead we headed back to Quartzsite for a couple of days and then we stopped at the Picacho Peak State Park just north of Tuscon to meet up with the photo club from the RV Park we are staying at.   With all the rainy weather we've been having, I was surprised the weather cleared for us to get out and take some pictures.  Not many pictures, mind you, but pictures none the less.  On Friday, we headed back to Benson.  At least we have a place to stay.  Because they are closing park after park.  Now, if we can just get some toilet paper, that would be great!.
The only other thing that happened was with Scout.  He had to go to the doctor because of an infection in his anal glands.  Hopefully that gets cleared up soon.

For Michael
(Click for a bigger picture)

For Easton
(Click for a bigger picture)

Oh, I almost forgot, Terry finished two quilts this winter (the front side) and we go pick them up from the quilter (the one that does all the thread on the quilt face and the border too).  Her machine just isn't big enough to be able to quilt the bigger quilts.  Next thing you know she will want a bigger machine!  One is for Michael and one is for our newest grandson Easton.