Adventures of B&K: 2017

On Saturday, March 4, 2017, we headed out to the FMCA Rally in Chandler, AZ with Tom & Debbie. Along I-5, the almond trees were in full bloom, and the ground in the orchards looked like it had been snowing. We also had a full windshield load of smashed bees. Guess they won't be doing much pollinating anymore.

From I-5, we cut over to Hwy. 58 to Bakersfield.

Our first night was spent at the Orange Grove RV Park ($43/nt) in Bakersfield. The orange trees still had some oranges on them, and the RV Park welcomes you to pick a bag. I picked and Debbie held the bag and Mia's leash. My shoes were full of oranges since so many of them were on the ground. Yuck!

Heading over the Tehachapi's, the weather was looking pretty grim. No snow or rain for us, so we were happy to get to some warmer weather.

Heading to Indio for our next night, we stayed at the Elks Lodge. We had water & electricity ($22/nt.). The RV parking area is clean and is behind the Indio Lodge. The Lodge was closed on Sunday, so we hung out in our motorhomes.

In the morning, we dumped our grey and black water tanks and filled up with water and begin our journey.

We are heading to Chandler, AZ on I-10 for a motorhome rally. Around 3:00, Bill tells me he has to pull over due to some engine warning lights on. I text Debbie, and we pull over at the next off-ramp, and head to an office building parking lot. Good thing the parking lot was pretty empty so we both could pull in.

Bill & Tom go to the back of our motorhome and discover some type of fluid has sprayed all over the engine grate at the back of the motorhome and the front of the truck. Not knowing what it was, we unhook the truck, and Debbie and I navigate through the city streets to the FMCA Rally at the Rawhide Event Center. This was approximately 10 miles. Debbie and I lead and Tom brought up the rear in case something worse happened and he would be able to help Bill. We made it to the rally parking area around 4:15 p.m., and were relieved that we made it! Time for a cocktail!!

This is the overflow parking lot from the rally. There were approx. 2,650 rigs at this rally.

Enjoying Happy Hour at the Wildhorse Casino (which is the tall building in the middle of the photo above). We had some margaritas then headed back to the motorhomes for dinner.

The rally's always include entertainment in the evening. The entertainment was outdoor in an arena with seating down front and we liked the bleachers along the sides.

The Rawhide Event Center has an old ghost town, so this day we had to go over to get our ice cream for the ice cream social. It was very warm during the day.

The end of the rally was on Friday, so on Saturday morning, March 11, we headed to the Spirit Mesa RV Park in Mesa, AZ, which was only 14 miles away. We stayed at this park for almost one week. The weather continued to be very warm, with temperatures in the low 90's. Right after we got settled, Shorty & Debbie arrived. The girls are enjoying a glass of champagne.

On Monday, Ed & Carol Burke arrived, and on Tuesday, Ron & Darlene Davis arrived.

We headed out to Apache Junction to have lunch at the Mining Camp Restaurant and visit the ghost town at Goldfield. Superstition Mountain, where men mind gold. Some men died and nobody would know where they mined.

Tonto & his side kick - Tonto Jr.

After lunch, we walked around the restaurant and took a look around.

Darlene Davis and a photo bomber

Tom & Bill found where they want to be

After looking around at the Mining Camp Restaurant, we all headed over to the Goldfield Ghost Town. We took a "mine tour". The best thing about it was it was cool in the mine.

The end of the week came quick. On Friday, we found our way to downtown Mesa and had a beer at Desert Eagle Brewing Co. Although we did not drink "green" beer, someone else did, so we snapped a picture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Desert Eagle Brewing Co., Mesa, AZ

Time to head back to the RV Park. Downtown Mesa has a lot of brass figurines, so Bill found one outside of the brewery and thought he would either catch a ride, or just play jump frog.

Friday night, Carol cooked us all Corned Beef & Cabbage for St. Patricks Day.

Ron Davis, John Barton & Ed Burke ready for something.

Max dressed up for St. Patty's Day with his 4 leaf clover hairband

Ed, Bill & Skippy celebrating everything.

Saturday, March 19, Bill & I headed home. It was an eventful 3-day trip, as the antifreeze leak happened again when we arrived at the Indian Wells RV Park in Indio. Coach-Net came to our rescue by finding a mobile mechanic who came out to repair this leak. We hope we are done with that issue.