Our Untraditional Thanksgiving

Since this was our first Thanksgiving in over 8 years that we were not on a Christmas Tree Lot we chose to go with our favorites and not the traditions of years of other’s ideas of how to spend this holiday.

We began with Bloody Maria’s using Tequila instead of Vodka (still only using ¼ shot of alcohol), celery stalk, big Green Olives stuffed with Blue Cheese, and Shrimp.  Its breakfast with all the goodies that tide us over until the main course is ready.

We baked our Ham in our Toaster Oven, it was moist without being raw tasting but done so that it was not dry.  And, for the taste, well the brown sugar packet that comes in the package that we basted continuously for a few hours made it the best tasting ham we have cooked together and let me say we have together cooked hundreds of hams.  We enjoyed succulent ham sandwiches on Sour Dough bread with Deviled Eggs that had been prepared with mayonnaise, mustard, horseradish and seasonings.

All of this served while watching Macy’s Parade and the traditional football games, the Lions playing the early game and then the Cowboys on the latter game. 

A nap is definitely in our future...this is Thanksgiving our way!

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Fun & Friends

We attempted to submit this article a few days ago but all hell broke loose on one of our computers, mine!  We, more like I apparently allowed the “Ads by Info” virus to get in our computer and it is an evil disease that I thought would never be restored to health.  Every time you open a window online it disrupts by adding hundreds of popup ads to where it is so hard to even read a blog or do anything so I spent the past few days cleaning it off of my computer over and over again, finally I believe it is gone.

Anyway, back to the fun stuff…

We had planned to check out the Cabot’s Pueblo Museum and since Terry & Jeri, fellow bloggers of Just Wanderin were in the area we got together to hang out. 

The museum was interesting, we took quite a few photos that you can see by going to our photo website.  We will also have a separate review of the museum and the restaurant we went to while visiting Desert Hot Springs so make sure you check them out too.

 

It is always nice to hang out with friends we have met while living this lifestyle and these guys are great.  When we made the decision that they would pick us up instead of us meeting them at the museum, Jeri made a comment about us being able to fit.  Hmmmm, the last time we rode with them they had a Jeep so we thought nothing of it, even though it was a bit cramped we thought we would do fine.  But, when they pulled up in a truck with a very small backseat we thought this could be a problem.  Once again it ended up being a story to tell instead of a problem.  Jerry and Terry chose the backseat, while Jeri drove and I was front passenger.  Terry actually didn’t have that much of an issue but Jerry who is a big man was stuffed in there like a sardine.  On our first stop while Jerry was attempting to exit Jeri and I, especially I, laughed so hard at one point I thought I would wet myself.  Jerry has a way with his sense of humor to send me into hysterics and even though it didn’t seem like a very nice thing for me to be laughing so hard, it was a very usual circumstance because he makes me laugh all the time.

Anyway, Jerry was not harmed in any way and we even drove a little further from the museum to have a fantastic lunch at one of the local authentic Mexican Restaurants, South of the Border which we will add a separate review for later.

I absolutely LOVE the way both Jerry and I laugh at ourselves, during and especially after events that others it would just send them into a fit.  Our sense of humors is what keeps us going when things get rough and what keeps us from lashing out at one another during some really harsh moments in our lives.  We thank the Universe every day for all it gives to us to make us laugh.  Life is Grand!

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

More Lazy Days for Now...

It’s not easy BUT somebody has got to do it and we seem to be getting really good at it!

We moved again…5 miles down the road but we made an adventurous day out of it which turned it into a 50 mile round trip.  We stopped to fill up Maggie and gas was at the lowest we had seen it in California in a long time, cannot wait to see what the prices will be once we head into Arizona.

We also did a Walmart stop for our Thanksgiving dinner and a few other items.  We also made a stop at Home Depot to pick up some wood for our floor, it got really scary in the bathroom area.  Every time we stepped on it there was this noise that creeps me out and it actually felt as if it would be falling out soon.  Once we removed the carpet we seen there is an issue so we laid a piece of wood over it and for now it once again feels secure.

We also took some play time at the Spotlight 29 but were only in there for a short time because we hit a jackpot and left with more than we came with which is always the way we like to do it.

We stayed at the Catalina Spa and RV Resort for 3 nights, one of those nights it rained and was windy but nothing where we lost too much sleep.  We then moved across the road for 7 nights at Caliente Springs RV Resort.  Then we will head to Las Vegas for the NASCAR Champions Week Events that we are looking forward to finally being able to attend. 

One of our plans while we are still here in the Desert Hot Springs area is to visit the Cabot’s Pueblo Museum located just a few miles from our location that we will give a separate review of the museum. And, of course more and more soaking in the desert hot springs.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Sky Valley Resort

Sky Valley Resort

74711 Dillon Road

Desert Hot Springs, CA  92241

760-329-2909 or 888-894-7724

5/11-5/14/13 & 11/14-11/20/14

Have you ever felt as if you were the only special person in the entire world…well that is exactly how this crew made us feel.  Since we are hanging out in the same area and checking out all the resorts nearby we arrived at 9am to check in, but the office was closed until noon.  We called the Assistant Manager and he sent someone over immediately.  We were way early, but she apologized and said to make it up to us she would put us in a Super Site. 

We paid $15 per night with our Coast to Coast membership without any additional charges for water, electric, sewer, on gravel with a patio, patio set under shade trees and a gazebo…WOW!  No cable but they offered a $20 value for internet but our DirecTV and Verizon MiFi and phones worked perfectly.  Unfortunately our entire time there was a heat wave going on with temps reaching 108 so we could not enjoy the patio as much as we hoped.

The restrooms, laundry room and other areas were kept immaculate.  

The hot spring pools were wonderful which we took full advantage of every chance we got, especially when the sun went down.

Feeling like a million bucks we decided to check out the on-site Restaurant and we were thoroughly impressed.  We had breakfast because they serve it all day and it was the best food we have ever tasted and the friendliest staff we have come across. 

The House Omelet had all sorts of vegetables that complimented one another with some secret sauce that tantalized the tongue with every bite and topped with fresh avocados and sour cream made it a special breakfast.

If we ever decide to settle in somewhere this place would be high on our list and we would highly recommend it and will come again and again and again.  Love the area and love this resort!

NOTE 2014 UPDATE - On our return visit we were not put in one of their Super Sites but they made us feel special anyway.  Just a really good group of people that work there that have a nice way of making us feel special.  We had breakfast and just as the last time it was tantalizing to the taste buds.

For more photos, check out our Picasa Web Albums.

Being Exactly Who We Are Meant To Be

Life always gives us reminders of why we do what we do and the other morning was no different.  

We replaced our microwave a few years ago with a lower voltage since we were boondocking a lot more often but our keen senses caught it before it went up in flames while using it the other day.  We became aware of the smell and then the strange noise coming from it so we immediately stopped it, unplugged it and removed it before it began to smolder.  

We replaced it and are just grateful that as bad as things get, they are not as bad as they could have been if we were not open and aware of our surroundings.

We are still recuperating from the long days of work, not just from the pumpkins but remember we worked the Kansas State Fair, then drove like truckers for 5 days and then straight to work at the pumpkins so this has truly been nice for us.  Especially since I am finding so much work online that we may continue doing this until January, life is truly so good once we stop fighting it and allow it to just flourish for us.

I feel at home just the way things are currently, feeling connected to the Universe and allowing it all to just engulf us is such a relaxing feeling.

We are hanging out at several resorts located in the Desert Hot Springs.

Just enjoying soaking in the hot springs, writing and living in a better state of mind then we have for so many months now.  Life is Grand once again!

We had our tires rotated... (Maggie with no shoes...SCARY!)

And, ran a few errands in between a few of the resorts thus far and have another move planned in a few days where we will pick up our Thanksgiving meal and other needed items since we are scheduled to be at our next location through the holiday.  After that move we will be heading to Vegas for the NASCAR Champion Event.  We have been wanting to attend it for so many years but we had always been working and since we are off at this time it is a perfect opportunity. 

We had an eventful weekend with the weather.  On Saturday they were predicting some heavy winds for Sunday early morning, around 4am but the winds continued to get stronger all day Saturday and we thought they had the timing messed up but oh we were so wrong.  Even though the winds were quite strong all day Saturday and into the night it was NOTHING like what we felt at 4am on Sunday morning.  It literally bounced us up and out of bed, it felt as if somebody had hit our motorhome and then we continued to rock and roll at a high speed for the next few hours.  Daybreak finally came and the wind settled down a bit and for the first time in a very long time the weather forecasters were spot on.  I suppose even out west we still have some weather situations where I lose sleep but we will take this over all the weather they are having all over the country now.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

September & October Wine Tastings

We continue to learn things about wine tasting by researching and now know that even though a bottle does not include a vintage date it does make a big difference.  As explained to us at one of our wine tasting outings that weather has a lot to do with the taste.  If there was an early or late frost, or too much or too little water can change the taste of any wine annually.  So even though we tasted a varietal by a certain producer and liked or disliked it does not necessary mean that the next time we taste the same item that it will not taste much differently.  We have recognized this several times in the past few years and finally understand it.  This even applies to the box wine that we purchase in between bottles, we have tasted a huge difference with the same kind over and over again especially when traveling across the country.  So we may have a review one time that if so different the next time and this is the reason behind it.

We have not been doing much wine tastings in the past few months since we had been working so much but we hope to once again add our wine tastings to our blog on a more regular basis.  We are more into the sweeter types like Sangria, Moscato and other sweets but have also enjoyed a good Riesling every now and then.

Please let us know if you have any favorites that you feel we would enjoy tasting, but do remember that we try to keep our budget of under $5 per bottle for the most part but definitely under $10 for sure.

Sutter Home Pink Moscato - A Napa Valley regional wine that has a 10% alcohol content that we rated a 6.8.  Even though the aromas were caramel, melon, passion fruit, peach and vanilla it still had a bite to it and was not smooth nor sweet.  We thought we had tasted it before and thought it was good but even though many wines do not include a vintage date it makes a big difference in the tastings and would consider purchasing it again for this reason.

Carolina Vineyards White Ocean Breeze – We bought this in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from one of our tastings, this white grape wine has 11% alcohol that we rated 8.5.   With a very slight floral fragrant it is snappy, cleansing, light, refreshing flavor, just like an ocean breeze that would go great with any meal or just to enjoy its flavor.    We would definitely recommend this one to others and will purchase again.

Stone Cliff Winery American Moscato - Just had to try one of the local wineries located in Dubuque, Iowa as we were passing through the area.  We gave it a high rating of 9.3 because it was sweet, fresh and tasted like a honeydew melon on a hot summery day.  With a light floral aroma it would be on our list to purchase again and we would recommend it to others that costs under $10 per bottle.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Traveling Leisurely

What a huge difference to be traveling leisurely, nothing we had planned but we could get used to this again.  Currently doing some online work that should assist our funds and we are still looking for other work that we enjoy but for now we could possibly take some time off to once again enjoy ourselves.  Something we have not done in a very long time.  We got all caught up in the work, work and more work and forgot the reason we began living this lifestyle ten years ago.  To have fun, to enjoy ourselves with no stress and absolutely no drama.  Time to get back to that once again.

We will be hanging out in the Palm Springs area at several of the resorts that are part of the Coast to Coast membership for the next month or so before heading into Arizona for more stays at resorts through the holidays.  The weather here has been in total agreement, highs in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s.  Our plan is to take in the Hot Springs, relax, and go on a few bike adventures to check out things and to work on some of the projects being offered to me online.  We are now remembering how to relax and have fun once again.

Even though we feel the Osborne’s made a ridiculous choice about us not returning for trees we are appreciating the fact that we are once again finding ourselves and the reason we began living this lifestyle.

When we discussed their decision we know that they made a huge mistake but at the same time we are lucky we got out of their rat race.  Anyone who takes the word of a few customers against the hundreds of compliments from customers at the pumpkin lot is someone we are not willing to work for any longer.  Daily, we had so many people tell us how much they appreciated our wonderful customer service and loved the way we kept control and were so safety conscious with their children.  Then they would go on to explain how when they went to the other lots of the Osborne’s they did not feel the same security because all they noticed were the other lots allowed many safety issues to go unchallenged and the employees were unconnected to the children.  We heard this all the time from customers but tried to explain that we were instructed by the boss to follow the guidelines but then were told by a different boss to allow things to just happen, “Nobody’s going to get hurt!” is a direct quote from another boss. 

The first week we had the “it’s all good” attitude and was more relaxed with the rules and guidelines we had 3 accidents because we allowed parents on the Jumpies and for the kids to run wild around the lot so we tightened up again and that is when the accidents ceased but the complaints began.  Even though we did not have any broken bones as the other lots did we were the ones let go.  According to parents who came to our lot because they were at the other lots when these accidents happened and it was due to the chaos of supervision of their children that they believed the accidents happened.  Several parents informed us that they would not be returning to those other locations because they did not feel the same safeness due to what they witnessed and would only return to ours because we were there.

It is a fact that people call to complain much more than they do when things are good and we understand that but do not feel the Osborne’s realize those facts.  For as many complaints as they got from customers, there were hundreds of compliments said to us daily but they never heard them nor did they even care to ask us about it all.

There is a few facts about the people that complained that the Osborne’s did not take into consideration…

• First off they were the rude ones, they wanted us to bend the rules and guidelines for them and several of them played the “race” card and then began early into the disagreement to personally attack our characters with some very vulgar statements and yes I did get a bit perturbed over their attitudes and told them that I would not be spoken to in that manner and asked them to leave the lot since they were making a scene.
• Several of them wanted to leave their children at the lot without any supervision and got upset when I told them assertively that they could not do that and would need to return immediately to the lot.
• There were also several who wrote reviews that if they looked into their review patterns they would have noticed that those people hardly ever had anything nice to say about anything or anyone and even were banned from several businesses due to their rudeness.

There are several other items we could list but at the end of the day the facts are that after working for them for 3 years they ended up treating us very poorly.  To say over and over again that you have our backs, or we are family and you love us and then to just call us and not even ask us our side of any of it and just let us go even though we have a contract is just the kind of people we do not want to work for and we are better off.  But at the same time we needed to get our feelings out there because we are tired of allowing people to say and do things to us and not be held accountable for it.

We will move forward and we will not allow this situation to bitter us toward people because we know that there are many folks out there who would love to have us work for them and know that we are good people who have great skills to share.  And, that for every complaint they understand that there are several hundreds of compliments about our great customer service skills.

It’s All Good

Torn feelings this morning, bouncing between bewildered, feeling as if we just had the rug pulled out from under our feet and anger for being lied to by them.

Having someone’s back does not mean that you should stick a knife into it the first chance you get, but maybe being part of the family means to kick us while we were down.  We have learned that is exactly what family does so maybe they didn’t lie to us after all.

We have our feelers out there for work, contacting places that had offered us work in the past few weeks when we should have taken them up on their offers but we felt that we had made a commitment to not only finish Pumpkins but to return to work the trees as well.  Apparently a person’s word is no longer worth anything as well as a contract that we had with them isn’t worth the paper it was written on.

Life lessons along the way has been a tough one this year and as we were hoping the worst was over but we can see that is not true.

We are heading away from the area today, way too expensive for us now that we are currently unemployed again.  We have some Coast to Coast points to use again in the Desert Hot Springs area, in Ehrenberg, Earp, Laughlin and Lake Havasu City through the first part of 2015 and were able to make the reservations so if no work comes along then maybe it’s time to just relax and enjoy this lifestyle once again.

We have a few online jobs waving at us in the breeze so we hope that might be enough to supplement our income through this year as well as setting other opportunities in motion.  We will be okay and we will once again get out of this despair with dignity and learn to always be true to ourselves and never allow anyone ever again to dictate to us how we should act.  If our attitudes are not what they want then we will move onward and upward.

Chula Vista RV Resort

460 Sandpiper Way

Chula Vista, CA  91910

800-770-2878

9/15/2013 & 11/1-11/25/13 & 11/3-11/6/2014

2014 NOTE - We paid $60 for a water, electric, sewer back-in site situated on a concrete slab with a picnic table along the entrance road area.  A bit noisier traffic wise but we were located right by the laundry and spa area where we took full advantage of it.

This is by far one of the best and perfect places we have come across in our years of travels.  The area is perfect, the park is gorgeous, the only bad thing is the price but I guess you do get what you pay for.

We paid $75 for a water, electric, sewer back-in site situated on a concrete slab with a picnic table and $1090 for the monthly rate.  So much higher than we ever want to pay but it was location…location…location we were after.  They do offer free WiFi but our Verizon MiFi worked wonderfully well.

Relaxation...activities...and all the amenities that you need are available for your convenience.

The pool and spa were sparkling and very inviting.

They strictly enforced their pet policy which we witnessed for ourselves.  We noticed a neighbor across from us had 3 dogs and were NEVER on leashes.  Two days after she moved in another person walking her dogs were rushed by her 3 dogs and then 2 days later she moved out and she was a monthly.  

The restrooms and laundry were the cleanest we have ever seen.

It is a gated resort that is located next to a marina and a park right on the San Diego Bay.  We did not see any of the obvious homeless folks hanging out in the area as we have seen so often while hanging out near the ocean. 

The views are spectacular and there is so much to do in the area but we soon found that riding our bikes through some of the areas to get to where we wanted to go was not a comfortable feeling.

Even with the exuberant pricing, we would highly recommend this resort.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

We Are Saddened…

Hurt and disappointed but as usual we will survive.  We were told, “Got your back”, “Love you guys”, and that “We are family” but they still called us yesterday and told us they do not want us back for Christmas. 

It was a rough year and we thought it would all be good once we got back to the west, well it isn’t and the bad stuff keeps on coming.

This season was long and we had some really tough customers, mostly because we are instructed to be firm and follow the guidelines they give to us but then we are informed that the other lots do not and then when those customers come to our lot they must follow the rules and they get upset and call the office to complain about our management.  The bosses can’t have it both ways, they either want us to follow the guidelines or they don’t and believe me we would rather just allow the customers to do all that the other lots allow them to do but each time we did, one of the bosses told us not to and then the other would tell us to lighten up and allow them to do whatever the hell they want.  The same for workers, we were told one thing by one of the bosses and another thing by another boss.

We are taking full responsibility for our rudeness to customers when we were personally attacked by a few of them but for the most part we had hundreds of compliments by customers and only a handful of complaints but unfortunately the compliments only made it to us and not to the top where the complaints went.  Since they obviously could not see the bigger picture they decided to end our relationship even though we had a contract with them for both Pumpkins and Trees but a contract is just a piece of paper and nowadays breaching one’s word does not matter. 

Life goes on and we will survive as we usually do and we are holding onto the faith that good will come our way because when one door closes another always opens and it’s usually better than the original plan.  We are good, deserving people that need to understand that if somebody doesn’t like our way of doing things does not make them right and us wrong it just makes us different.  We need to hold on to the belief that we are great just the way we are and that it is not fair to change who we are because somebody else doesn’t like our personalities.  We have worked for many people who accept us for who we are and understand that we are good at what we do and that there will always be times when people complain because that is what our society has become.  The internet has become an easy outlet for many to just bash one another just because they were asked nicely to not do something.

I am a reviewer so I know what it is like to write a review about a place but to personally bash people is just not what a good reviewer should do.  Looking at many of the reviews online about their business you can see that there are other issues besides us and that many of those reviews were from people who by looking through their profile bash everyone.  Unhappy people nowadays take out their aggressions on others to fulfill their own inadequacies and should not hold so much power over hard working people like us.  But it happens and we all need to understand that we all will have to live with the consequences of our choices.  We stand by each and every choice we made and yes we learned from them but we will move onward and upward and not allow this bad choice to tear down our attitudes.