Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Wine Tasting 2019

During our travels, we pick up bottles of wine, not only in the grocery stores in different states, choosing the local brands that sound good, but also during our wine tasting excursions, as we taste them, we will share our findings.

Pomegranate 

St Kathryn Cellars

Palisade, Colorado 

A tart flavor, but sweet too at the same time. This was a bottle we picked up while visiting the vineyard, our last visit of the day of tastings, maybe that explains why we bought it because we will not be purchasing this anytime soon.

Honey Raspberry

Meadery of the Rockies

Palisade, Colorado

We stopped at this tasting room while checking out the wineries in Palisades, Colorado. It is not a winery and their wines are not made with grapes, but rather with honey and fruit, which are not our favorite types of wine. They taste more like fruit drinks, so in the future, we will stick with the grape wines.

Riesling 2015 Semi Sweet

Grande River Vineyards

Palisade, Colorado

We stopped at this tasting room while checking out the wineries in Palisades, Colorado. It is not a winery and their wines are not made with grapes, but rather with honey and fruit, which are not our favorite types of wine. They taste more like fruit drinks, so in the future, we will stick with the grape wines.

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Update...Ugh!

We left Yuma on a frigging windy and frigid day when unfortunately we had issues with the tow bar straps. Apparently the new ones we bought were not the right size, they were huge, so we dragged out the old ones, thankful that we saved them. The entire hour drive we were big time rock and rolling due to the wind, thankfully we were only heading to Quartzsite, about 70 miles.

We did a little Quartzsite shopping, checked out the area and listened to our favorite radio station, the one that still tucks us in at 10pm and plays some real oldies. Both nights we were there it got down to freezing and we had the heat on and the first night the spigot froze up since it’s 2 feet above ground, so the next night we dripped our water all night and it didn’t freeze.

Then we drove under 50 miles to get to Earp to one of our favorite resorts for a few days only this time, we usually stay a few weeks but we have to get to Palm Desert for work on the 9th. During our 5 day stay the weather was frigid and wet so we weren’t able to enjoy our patio fires.

Upon leaving we had some issues with Dolly, it’s taking some major learning lessons for us being able to tow MayB safely. The first few drives we had MayB in neutral which was a pain undoing the battery, but then because she was in neutral her steering was making Dolly do some strange things so we read that MayB should be in park since she’s front wheel drive. That sounded more logical to us, but the steering wasn’t locking as it should and it made a weird thing happen to Dolly which didn’t look right, so we unloaded her and reloaded her and it all drove fine. Not sure what we are doing wrong, and as with anything it seems lately, everyone has their own opinion which they swear is the correct way. We are living and learning for sure.

Jerry fell over Dolly while we were frustrated hooking it all back up! He is bruised and sore but all I could say was, “Damn you Jerry, what is our number one rule? That’s right, DO NOT FALL, what the...” I’m sure you all know the rest of the conversation and then the tears came from both of us, mostly tears of gratefulness that he was not hurt too bad.

We arrived safely in Palm Desert where we worked at Sam’s selling Lt Blender’s frozen cocktails. We are definitely NOT happy with the new pay scale, we weren’t making enough money from them the past few years, but now they have gone in the totally opposite direction, but we needed something. We thought we found some other work, but as it has been going lately for us, it fell through with a huge thud.

Our stay in Palm Desert this time was the wettest and coldest EVER, so we were not able to enjoy our patio, fire time at all. Staying positive and holding on is getting tough and we are getting weary, but giving up is never an option for us, so we persist.

Made it back to Yuma to work another Lt Blender at Sam’s since we have yet to find anything else. This has definitely been the toughest time for us in all our years doing this, but we can’t and won’t give up. We are barely holding on but we know this too shall pass, we know that at any moment this can all change in an instant and we will be back on the gravy train.

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Palm Springs RV Park

Thousand Trails

77500 Varner Road

Palm Desert, CA 92211

877-570-2267

1/4-1/17/2017, 4/4-4/18/2017, 2/20-3/5/2018, 1/9-1/23/2019

2019 Update - We found the right spot this visit, far enough from the road and train noise to where it was not totally annoying and spacious.

This park has first come first serve accommodations which we are told is the case for most of the Thousand Trails parks.

There are wonderful folks taking care of it, well maintained from what we could see since we do not use any of the facilities because we have our own in our home. The workers were always pleasant and helpful.

Roads are NOT wide and specifically has one ways since there is NO way for two vehicles to pass…it’s hard enough to allow walkers by while going down the roads. The sites are pretty much the same, they are long enough but not very wide which means your time outside is right on top of your neighbor’s sewer.

Right on the Interstate and the only available site we could find was an end one which gave us more room but it was nearest the highway. Did we mention the train just on the other side of the highway? Hardly ever blowing its horn, but the fierceness of it at times rumbled the ground around us. Thank goodness those noises stopped bothering us long ago and we were gone all day long at work, otherwise it may have eventually got to us.

We hope the other parks in this membership are better but it was what we needed at the time and we would stay here again but the sites really needs some major sprucing up.

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned…

Learning something new everyday, today I learned…

Learning something new everyday, today I learned...

Learning something new everyday, today I learned...

Learning something new everyday, today I learned...

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Emerald Cove Resort
2715 Parker Dam Road

Earp, CA  92242

760-663-4941

April 2013, 12/11-12/17/2014, 1/22-1/31/2017, 2/15-3/1/2017, 4/18-4/24/2018, 1/4-1/9/2019

2019 Update - Always great customer service and the roads are getting even better.

2017 Update - Still no additional charges and they continue to treat us so wonderful...the roads were also worked on getting to the resort. It got so bad the last time we were here rattling that our grey tank shook loose but now the roads are much better.

2014 Update - Still no additional charges and they continue to treat us so wonderful here...it's amazing how the customer service here is so much better then many of their other properties since this too is associated with Colorado River Adventures.  The main company should have this manager train the others...

We had water issues several times during our stay and were told by neighbors that it has been going on for the few weeks they were here prior too.  While hooking up, Jerry ran the water as he always does and it began to come out like black soot...the maintenance man immediately came when we called and said they had been working on the water and will blow out the lines, he did and it fixed that issue.  A few days later while I was in the shower the water stopped and was off for about 10 minutes, I had to finish with our pump.

We paid $10 per night with our Coast to Coast membership, no additional charges for water, electric and sewer site on level gravel with a picnic table and barbecue.  Our Verizon MiFi and phones had great reception and for an additional charge they offered cable.

Our first visit we were crammed into a site on the second row from the lake where our neighbor’s awning was touching our rig and the other neighbor was using our picnic table to sit on while he washed his dog on our site.  We were not happy campers but it was convenient for us while we worked nearby and spent our days off here.

The cleaning people must have had the day or maybe the week off because the restrooms and laundry area were dirty and wreaked of a sour smell.  The smell is the water and even in 2014 it still has that smell.

The store carried all the conveniences including beer, wine, ice and even lottery tickets.  The Emerald Tiki Bar served breakfast, lunch and dinner with phenomenal pricing.  They also offered Karaoke and Happy Hour Specials on some refreshing alcoholic beverages.

We stayed here several times while we were working in the area during a slow time in between the winter and summer seasons.  Otherwise we believe this park will be packed with kids, toys and lots of activities in the River Rat’s Kid’s Club, more like a KOA on steroids.

If we are ever in the area we would stay here again, the location is great and being on the water is surreal but we would avoid it during peak seasons. 

For more photos, check out our Picasa Web Albums.

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Quail Run RV Park

918 N Central Blvd

Quartzsite, AZ 85346

928-927-8810

1/2-1/4/2019

We paid $65.89 for two nights, using our Good Sam 10% discount, but then adding a 3% charge for using our credit card for a 30/50 amp, water, sewer, pull through site.

We believe we stayed here during our first years out traveling, but if we did then they must have done some major updates, this park is the best in Quartzsite. The customer service is outstanding. The upkeep of the entire park is fantastic.

The restrooms and showers were spotless and had a coin machine to control water usage.

Hardly any of the parks here have laundry facilities, but they do and it’s exceptional.

For any of our future stays in Quartzsite, we will be staying here.

Learning something new everyday, today I learned

Learning something new everyday, today I learned….

Cactus Gardens RV Resort

10657 S. Avenue 9E

Yuma, AZ 85365

928-342-9188

4/5-4/16/2018, 12/24-1/2/2019

This is an Encore Resort, also Thousand Trails and accepts Passport America and is an almost exact replica of its sister park right next door. (Desert Paradise RV Resort)

Great laundry facilities and the game room was also nice...

The pool was warm the first day there but then the weather got hot and the pool got cooler, it was great. 

Wonderful customer service, the grounds are kept up nicely and it’s a quiet place to sleep, especially with our windows open. The sounds of the trains are still annoying and the interstate can be heard at night with the windows open but it was still a good choice of resorts to stay in the area.