Hollywood

Today we went to Hollywood, a place I never expected to visit. Although we got there before noon, it was crowded with lots of tourists, strange looking characters, bums, and creepy people. One guy kind of sauntered along with us, and when we'd stop to take a picture, he'd stop, too. We ducked into a souvenir shop, and he came in but didn't stay around long. Thankfully he went elsewhere.

There were people everywhere trying to get us to buy tickets to Hollywood homes tours. We read on the internet that these were a ripoff, since most stars choose to live far, far away from Hollywood. Can't really blame them. We parked in a parking garage that was below the Kodak Theater, where the Academy Awards are held.

We saw Graumann's Chinese Theater, and the "walk of stars", and there wasn't much to either. Just some big concrete slabs with hand and foot prints and messages to the owner of Grauman's theater from the old timers, like Bette Davis or Bogie. Bogie wrote, "Sid, may you live until I kill you." Or something to that effect. We came home after wandering about for about an hour and a half, finding the freeways becoming increasingly crowded.

Of course, you can tell that I enjoy fiddling with the computer. We were sitting here, watching TV and relaxing a while, when suddenly the motor home began to shake. After making a quick mental note that I was not using the washing machine, I realized we were having an earthquake. The shaking was pretty strong and lasted about 10-15 seconds. When it was over, the MH seemed to sway gently for a while. We then heard on TV that we'd had a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, and later heard that the epicenter was down in Baja and was actually a 7.2 magnitude. We haven't noticed any aftershocks, but we went out and did about an hour's walk, so we may not have felt them. I don't know if there's any damage in Mexico; I hope not. I suppose it was a pretty strong one, about the same as the one in Haiti, which was 7.0.

Oh, back to the pictures...I took the one of the modernistic tower from the car and have no earthly idea what it is.

Well, that's about it for now...more later! We hope to go to Huntington Beach tomorrow, and explore Seal Beach a little more.

Follow-up

We're having a good time, despite some aggravation and a new boo-boo on our motor home. Suffice it to say, a 4-foot-tall post did us in. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.
We had a wonderful time last night with my friend Kathy and her husband, Jerry. Had some fantastic steaks cooked on our new Weber Q grill. We got tired of throwing away the little cheapo gas grills every two years, so got this one and did it ever do a great job.
Yesterday, we DID see the sign at the front gate that said "No Weapons allowed on this facility". Kathy's husband ( a DOD civilian) explained to us what kind of facility we are on, and I don't blame them a bit for their strict policy, after hearing that. I won't go into detail but I'm really glad we could take the weapons over to Kathy's house to be stored until we leave.
We are planning on going to see Hollywood today, simply because the freeways should have little traffic on them. I wish we could have gone to church service, but it just didn't happen. Hopefully I will have some pictures later today to put on the blog.
Happy Easter, everyone!

Seal Beach, CA

We left Quartzsite on April 1 and were glad to say goodbye to windy, dusty Arizona. The day turned out to be beautiful, and the storm we were worried about never materialized. It all went to the south of us, and we hardly had any wind to blow us around. We felt a little shaky about driving in Los Angeles with a 40 foot motorhome and car behind. Not to worry, because we timed it just right, and we sailed through the freeways to our destination. Gary commented that the traffic (at that time!) was not as bad as Austin traffic. The mountains you see in these pictures are in Southern California, and they had fresh snowfall from the recent storm. There's a ski resort up there somewhere.

Seal Beach Naval Weapons Facility is located right on the beach, and Navy ships dock right on the facility. We saw a huge one yesterday when we left. Why no pictures of the base, you ask? Well, there's a prohibition against taking pictures on base unless you have special permission. We tried to get permission to just take a picture of our campsite, but conveniently the person we asked couldn't find anyone to authorize us to take a picture.

Well, that's not the worst. We have carried a shotgun since we started full-timing, and also Gary has a couple of other guns. We were told, when we checked in, that if we had weapons, we should notify security and register them. OK, no problem, right? WRONG. After kicking it around, we decided that the right, honest thing to do would be to take our weapons to security to get them registered and stored in the vault. BIG MISTAKE. They had a hemorrhage, s**t hissy and told Gary he had to leave the facility immediately, and that we should never have been allowed onto this facility with weapons. Gary told them what the people at the rv check-in office had said, and that nobody at the front gate mentioned weapons. They claim there is a sign by the front gate that says no weapons are allowed on base. We've yet to see the sign, but we're going to look again.

We had no idea where we were going to go, and I was starting to pack things up, when I remembered that I have a friend here whom I've known for years. We were planning on visiting her anyway. I called her and asked her if we could store our guns at her house, and she said yes, that would be OK.

Well, back to my story. They ESCORTED Gary, in our car, off base, across the 4 lane highway, to a parking lot across from the gate. He had to leave our car there and walk back over. They didn't even offer him a ride back on base. We got ready and walked out to the car, then went shopping for several hours until my friend got home, and then we visited with her and left the "weapons" there.

Now I have no quarrel with them not allowing weapons on post, remembering the awful thing that happened at Ft. Hood. However, they could be up front with their policy. Plus, you can't tell me that all these old retirees around here in their RV's are not carrying weapons. We were just stupid enough to be honest. Well, that won't happen again. We'll be very careful next time.

This is the land of palm trees and exotic plants. There's so many beautiful sights to see. Last night, we drove over to Manhattan Beach to visit with my son, Matt, and his wife Alexis. Their house is about 250 yards up a hill from the beach, and you can see the Pacific from their front windows. It was so beautiful to see the waves coming in. The beach picture is taken from their front drive. I didn't see the electric line running almost parallel to the ocean when I took the picture. Do you notice how the ocean seems to look like a hill out there? It's really noticeable when you view it in person.

We walked about 9 short blocks to a restaurant called Mama D's, Italian, of course, where I completely blew my weight watchers points. Despite my indulgence, I had still lost a pound this morning. Of course, I really didn't eat much of anything else yesterday.

We're really looking forward to next weekend, when we'll go spend a day or two with Matt and Alexis and enjoy the beach and the ocean some more.

I'll write more later with more pictures, and hopefully we won't be in the brig or kicked out of this place!

The Q

Here we are at beautiful Quartzite, AZ...NOT! This is definitely not an area in which I'd like to spend lots of time. It's dusty, dry, with reddish-brown mountains in the background, devoid of vegetation. I like the cold nights but it is now getting up to around 80-85 during the day. I understand that during January and February, the place is really hopping, with RV'ers from all over the country coming here to "boon dock". That means, to us, camping without hookups. It's free on BLM lands. This park has lots of old geezers running around on ATVs. I'll say one thing...it's quiet here, and you can't hear I-10. The only noise I've heard is when one of the ATV riders stays out late and drives their gasoline-powered vehicles back to their RV.
There's not even a car wash in Quartzite. Our car was covered with dust and dirt from being pulled behind the motor home. We drove 23 miles to Parker, AZ, to get the car washed and go to Walmart. On the way back, we stopped at a little bookstore. I noticed that there was a thin, salt-and-peppered bearded man standing out front with a long-sleeved shirt on, with ?legs showing? Lots of leg. I thought he had tights on, but noticed veins sticking out on his legs. Later, he took the shirt off to expose a thin, gnarly body with his genitals covered by a g-string and a little fabric cup. What the heck? Gary said he noticed a sign which said "A nudist lives here". I picked up an old Route 66 magazine which had a sticker saying there was an article about Quartzite in it. I flipped it open to see -- ta-da -- a picture of the old fart with his genitals blurred out. Whew. Guess it takes all kinds. I haven't taken many pictures here, and I refuse to take a picture of the nudie. Get this...while I was in the bookstore, I overheard him tell someone that a book was written in 1944, older than him! We're just barely younger than that. See...age is all a matter of how you feel and what you let yourself become, up to a point.
Ah well, speaking of, I'm still hanging in there with the weight watchers. I'm still fitting just fine in my old clothes, however. It's so slow losing weight, and it feels like I've been dieting forever. But I am determined to look and feel better.
We'll be here until April 1, when we take off for LA! Maybe I'll take some more pictures. Thanks for reading my blog!

Sun City, AZ

We've been visiting with Larry and June, my classmates from high school, who now live in Sun City, AZ. We have had a great time catching up on lots of happenings and seeing the sights around Phoenix. The first picture is their back yard. The trees are tangelos, tangerine, navel orange, juice orange, cumquat, and lemon. It was such a treat to eat out on the patio, then turn around and pick a juicy orange off the tree and eat it for dessert. June warned me that I'd be spoiled and unable to eat any more oranges from the grocery store! Their neighbor had ruby red grapefruit trees but he'd already given all the fruit away. I wish I could bottle the delicate aroma of the orange blossoms. The smell permeates the entire area. The houses in Sun City are well very neat and well kept, landscaped with lots of palm trees and various cacti in the yards.
Yesterday, we went up north of Phoenix into the foothills and Larry and Gary took their metal detectors. The group he belongs to have staked a claim in a certain area and people who are members can look for gold. Alas, they didn't find anything, but I got lots of beautiful flower and scenery pictures. The desert has been pretty and green due to lots of rainfall this year. You can see the saguaro cacti in the bottom picture.
I haven't been through Phoenix for many years, and I was amazed at how sprawling and absolutely huge the area is. We said goodbye to Larry and June and took off west this morning, ending up in Quartzite, AZ, a dry, dusty little burg with lots of rv'ers who were here for the winter. There isn't even a car wash in the area! We have to drive to Blythe, CA, about 18 miles down the road from here, to get the car washed. It gets filthy behind the motor home. For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would stay here. However, I can say that the RV park might not be fancy, but it's quiet! I'm in need of some good sleep.
We'll be here for 6 days, then we're headed to Los Angeles, namely Seal Beach. We're both apprehensive about the southern California freeways. I'm really excited for Gary because he's never been on the west coast before.
I'm going to try to put more pictures on this, but I may have to make another entry. I got some beautiful pictures of blooming cacti.
Well, thanks for reading the blog! More later!

John Wayne RV Ranch

We are currently at the John Wayne RV Ranch, Stanfield, AZ, for a couple of days. It's a very pretty, warm day. Sometimes looks can be deceiving, however. There is a slight east breeze blowing...which wafts the odor of huge feed lots about a mile from here to the entire campground area. Hence we have the air conditioner on, are burning candles, incense and the Scentsy plug-in that Caitlin gave me for Christmas! Hope the wind starts blowing from the west soon.

We took our walk today and noticed some land behind the RV park. After receiving permission from the campground manager, we began to explore the area. That is where the saguaro cacti in the above pictures are located. These things are huge, as you can see by the picture of Gary beside the gnarly one. You can also see holes in the cacti where birds have made their nests. We also found some pretty rocks (small) that we collected. While we were walking toward the furthest cactus, I noticed a single bluebonnet...guess it's the only one I'll get to see this year. Unfortunately, I didn't speak up until later, and on the way back we couldn't find it to take a picture. Reminds me that opportunities can be lost at a moment's notice.

As we walked along the trail, I began to notice articles of clothing discarded along a little ditch. Later I noticed an empty milk jug, and a strap that looked like it came off some kind of tote bag. We realized that illegals probably use the area as a thoroughfare, discarding clothing, other objects, and their water containers as they became empty. Kind of scary. It was mid-day when we were there and we didn't see a soul.

We'll be leaving on Tuesday to go see our friends Larry and June for a couple of days. I went to school with both of them. We're looking forward to relaxing on the patio and doing some pickin'. Larry plays guitar, mandolin, and harmonica. I need to stop this and go practice my banjo!

More later....

Garden Canyon, Ft. Huachuca, AZ

We went to Garden Canyon, located in the Coronado National Forest on Ft. Huachuca today, driving toward Miller Peak, 9,466 ft., in the Huachuca Mountains you see in one of these pictures. We drove as far as we dared without having a 4-wheel drive vehicle, then stopped and started hiking. We tried a trail but it was too rocky and steep. Told ya I hate climbing on rocks! So we came back and walked up the road a ways. A stream with rushing water and many waterfalls followed the road. We took many pictures. I can't resist a waterfall! As we walked, we were climbing in elevation, and finally we came to a place where the water was flowing over the road, and I didn't particularly want to get my hiking boots soaked, so we turned around and came back.

Gary had noticed a place on the bluff above the stream that he thought was a cave, so he jumped across the stream and climbed up the rocks to look inside. He said that it looked like it had once been used as a shelter but some rocks had collapsed inside it. He could see smoke smudges from campfires inside. There are Native American pictographs somewhere in the area, but we couldn't find them. We assume it was once used as a shelter by Native Americans. I was having a fit because I didn't want him to fall, but he's such a mountain goat and can climb anything.

What a beautiful area. Fortunately, we didn't see any bears.

I was glad to get home and relax. We bought an Oster Toaster Oven today and I wanted to try it out on a pizza. Yes, it's reduced calorie...Boboli whole wheat thin crust, turkey pepperoni, skim milk mozzarella, and Contadina Pizza Sauce. I can have 1/6th of the pie. Yum! I haven't had pizza in a long time.

We're leaving tomorrow. I have to say that I have traveled I-10 many times but never realized how beautiful this area is.

More later!