LJ and DJ's Big Adventure... Retired and Loving it!: March 2020

It's like cancer never happened....except he's skinny and has no taste buds. But aside from that, life is once again normal.

The only medical update I have is LJ is feeling great. His GP had him do an ultrasound to check on his heart. That scan was great and for once in his life his cholesterol is perfect. It's all that good cooking I'm doing (oh please.. if you believe that I have some swamp land for sale). He also had a scan on his kidney, but we haven't heard anything about that yet. No news is GOOOD news we always say. So on with life.

One year ago LJ was beginning his radiation and chemo. We decided to not spend this February doing thaaaat so we took a much needed trip with friends to Quartzsite and Yuma to ride ATVs and just do something fun. We had a blast. Lots of Pics at the end of this story.

Home for sale in Quartzite lol

It was good seeing him be himself again. He was funny and energetic. We spent the first week in Quartzsite. In my humble yet accurate opinion, it is the armpit of Arizona but kind of a cool riding place. Not much in town but a whole lot of beautiful countryside. The RV park was... well it had full hookups, so...

There were quite a few of us there! Rich and Kandi Kropp with Scooter's buddy, Niko; Bruce Clark; Jim and Jean Ezell, and Hersch and Karin Wilhoit with Scooter's other friend, Bufoo. Jean doesn't ride any more, so Karin, Kandi and I stayed behind one day to go to the flea market and the gem store with her. I had never been there so it was fun! Plus every night we sat around by the fire pit, drinking a little and swapping lies a lot. We ate at the Silly Al’s (great pizza and LJ was able to eat it!) and The Grubsteak (great fish and chips) because the Yacht Club was closed. During the flea market trip we had a couple drinks at Beer Belly's. It's claim to fame is a babysitter for your hubby while you shop lol.

There weren't as many vendors as there usually are according to the girls. Apparently this time the trip was scheduled a week later than usual and most of the vendors had moved on. I guess there is a big RV show there in January which draws large crowds and lots of vendors at the flea market. I did find, tho, that a lot of crystals and rocks were also available at the gem store for a lot less money than the flea market. Still a lot of cool stuff to look at, even if it's not your thing.

The ATV riding was incredible. But then again, I love the desert with it's changing colors and interesting terrain, plants and critters. It's interesting the things you find in the middle of nowhere. A lot of abandoned and still functioning mines. Cabins that have been there forever..and you wonder why, lol. The first day there it rained which helped keep the dust down...for a minute. We found a resort in the middle of nowhere. It had ladder golf, a putting green and lots of other stuff. Some of it looked pretty new. People do strange things in the desert lol. I'd go back.

Deer Run Resort

Rich looking at activities available at the resort lol

another abandoned cabin

People do weird things, like decorate abandoned cabins

people who visit sign the book..from all over the world

After a week there, we all packed up and headed to Yuma. The RV park there was a bit nicer...ok... A lot nicer. Plenty of room to park the trucks and atvs so we were able to make a gathering area next to us, in front of the Kropp's. They provided the fire pit, so again, drinking and swapping lies and generally making fun of each other. Now we had stuff to tease folks with because we had some riding under our belts.

LJ, for a long time, has told me how good the Chinese food at Fry's Market is.....uh.....no. Maybe it's changed since you were last there...maybe you were delusional, but no. Not recommended. Nope. I mean, when was the last time you had chow mein made out of spaghetti noodles. 😳 Maybe they hired a new cook or something. Yea, we'll go with that. The moral is, don't eat the Chinese food at Fry's in Yuma.

We had an excellent meal at a place called Wheezy's on Fortuna Rd. Good portions, good food. Busy place so you have to figure out the best time to go which is not around meal times. Even then, still busy. We'd go back to that place.

The meals at the clubhouse in the RV park were surprisingly good. We ate there once and on Daytona 500 day we just gathered around the outside tv at our place and munched on horsey durveys.

Another day we all got together at a lot a mile or so away that some friends own. They park their RVs there for the winter. Everyone brought food and we ate, drank and told stories, which seems to be a common theme.

Oh.. another fun place was Lutes Casino. Not a casino, but a fun place to eat and play pool if you like. It's been around for years. Looks small from the outside but it handles quite a few people. Lots of old stuff hanging on the walls and from the rafters. And the food was pretty good. Apparently there's always a line to get in. Our wait was about 15 minutes which really isn't bad. But, again, we went during off meal hours.
Interesting read: www.lutescasino.com/history

Hersch and Karin took me to a local casino for a couple hours. I plan on going back when I'm in Yuma again. It was little casino but I did win a bit so why not. I went with Karin and Jean to the Yuma flea market one day while everyone was riding. It was a rocky ride and I know better than to put myself through that so shopping it is. They have EVERYTHING at this place. I finally was able to get the carved wooden sign for our RV I have been looking for. I could have spent money on lots of stuff but I was a good girl.

The riding in Yuma was interesting because I had never been there. We spent a couple days at the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range. You have to get a permit and check in before you ride. I think they want to know who's out there so ya don't get in the middle of live fire training. Plus, it lets Border Patrol know folks are legitimately out there. We ran into border patrol both days.

The first ride there were twelve vehicles...dirt bikes, quads and side x sides. Here I am, my fat butt sitting in a two seater, comfortable as hell, watching two old farts on dirt bikes and two old farts on quads wondering why in the hell they are doing that, lol. I have to give credit to guys in their 60s and 70s (Ezell, late 70s) having the stamina and physical ability to still ride like that. Proves you are as old as you feel. (I, apparently, feel 90.. or like a princess, you decide 😂)

The leader was on a dirt bike.. he's a retired fireman. Rich always rides drag. He likes to go slow...makes sure everyone is ok and enjoys the scenery. We get to a corner and we wait........wait.....for Rich. Like I said.. he enjoys the ride. It really doesn't take that long. All of them are in radio contact and we are rather spread out so no one has to eat dust.

We found the satellite phones put in the middle of nowhere for illegals to use to get help. We talked to border patrol about the area. We saw jets doing low fly overs. This trip we didn't get down to the border itself, but that's on my list for next trip. We stayed on the US side, but several people's phones
sent messages throughout the ride saying "welcome to Mexico". Mine never did... apparently I didn't make it there but LJ did. It was one of our longer rides through the desert, but a great one.

Second ride was just through the desert itself. Again, I am a big fan of the desert. It simply tells it's own story. I just imagine those long ago traversing that area by wagon, horse, on foot. It really wasn't too dusty all things considered. Scooter enjoys the rides. He gets to pee on new stuff. He's in his own little world in his box. While we are moving, the majority of the time he is laying low, taking a nap. Which is apparently a good thing as you will see.

Our last ride was also in the bombing range. This time it was just Rich and Kandi, Larry and I. I was happy because Rich was leading and Rich goes slow so we would be able to just take our time and enjoy what we are seeing. Well......Rich rides slow when he's the drag guy. Hey Larry...where's Rich? See that dust cloud way over there? That's Rich. Geesh. But I kid. LJ has no problem keeping up. He just doesn't appreciate me yelling stopppppppppppppppppp! I wanna take a picture lol. It was on this ride that we were playing catchup due to my desire to be a photographer when LJ took the corner too fast and the ATV hit a sand berm. The front wheel caught and we were in for an E ticket ride. Bam on my side.. a little slide then on it's top and over to LJ's side. Sounds more dramatic than it was. My first concern, of course, is Scooter. Here we are, on our side. I'm dangling from my seatbelt but my weight is on LJ....pooooooooor LJ. I yell OMG the dog! LJ yells "are you ok? Get off me I can't breathe"😆. I was instantly able to look out and see Scooter was fine. LJ undid my seatbelt that I couldn't get to (I really need to lose weight) and I was able to open my door. Little Scooter was just sitting there in the sand, still tethered to his box. He wasn't scared, hurt, nothing. He just had that look of "Well, that's a new way to exit the atv. Hey mom, why are you over there?" He still had his doggles on, too. I felt better. It was then that I asked LJ if he was ok......... ......... .......... I love him. but, you know..the dog. Besides it was his fault anyway so...

LJ had radioed Rich and they were enroute to save us. Kandi said later she told Rich to slow down because another wreck wasn't going to help us, lol. I guess Rich thought we were on fire because of the smoke from the oil burning off the engine. It got on there while it was on it's side, before LJ was able to turn the engine off. It's nice to know you have people who truly care. And after they see you are alright can truly tease you. This will be a fireside story forever.

I was able to get out of the atv on my own. Adrenalin makes you an athlete, lol. LJ, too. Scooter was absolutely fine which tells me the safety measures I have in place for him are good. He has his own "seatbelt" and cushioned area. I'm glad he doesn't ride up front with me because I truly believe he would have been severely injured if he did.

Rich winched the atv upright. None of us had the sense to videotape it for the archives, lol. The only damage was a few scratches on the plastic and it broke the windshield. It still ran fine. No broken parts or pieces. If you are going to crash, do it in sand. I had a couple scrapes on my hand and some bruises on my legs. I'm sure that happened with the initial impact. I saw it coming, so I was locked in and prepared. I think LJ was surprised I wasn't using every curse word I know (and I know a lot) or vowing to never go again. After all, it was crashing my own quad that stopped me from riding on my own. Nope.. it was just one of those things. Could have been avoided if he was going a bit slower and he knows it. Now I just use it for leverage. I'll milk it as long as I can cuz that's how good marriages work. For months it's been me saying blah blah blah to LJ and hearing..well...I have cancer, so.... Now I bounce back with, well... you tried to kill me, so..... Funny how things even up.

We rode the rest of the ride and made it back home just in time for Rich to text our friends to let them know about our interesting day. They came by the RV later and we all sat around to here an accounting of LJ's E-ticket ride program. Of course there's always concern, but again, no one got hurt so we laugh, tease him unmercifully, and learn.

I'll pee here.. don't wanna get it dirty

Next day we went back to the Yuma flea market. LJ bought a couple little things and I found a Mexican ceramic fire hydrant to put in the yard for Scooter. It caught my eye and was only ten bucks. (When we got home I put it in the yard...he refused to pee on it, lol. )

On Sunday we headed home. LJ had the medical tests on Monday and Tuesday so we had to be home for that. Like I mentioned above, so far so good. I'll be glad when we cross this off our list. I do believe, though, based on what I'm seeing that he is doing fabulous. I think the worst is behind us. Fingers crossed and prayers I'm right.

Got the trailer unpacked. Note to self. STOP TAKING SO MUCH FOOD. Loaded up the trailer with food only to have to unload the trailer of the same food. Next time it's cereal, crackers and alcohol. I see no reason to take anything else. It's not like there aren't restaurants and grocery stores if you decide you need something. Planning for every situation is overkill. And causes unnecessary work when you get home.

Laura and Jane

Our friend Jane Keys came to visit a few days after we got home. She introduced us to her friend from childhood, Laura. It was a wonderful visit and our first true guests at the house. Having two guest rooms made it easy for everyone to be comfortable. It was fantastic! We enjoyed meeting Laura and loved our talks with Jane. Laura cooked breakfast for LJ so he was in heaven, lol. I cooked dinner by finding a Mexican restaurant they liked.😂. I admit my limitations. I'm not proud, lol. I've convinced Jane to bring Dave back to hang out when the pool gets warmer.

I think we have finally found a good balance. Life is getting back to normal. I feel comfortable writing about our adventures again. If things keep on like they are, the blog will once again be about our travels and life instead of LJ and doctors. I feel blessed. Both of us admit we did the right thing buying the house. We may not be "full time" RVing, but we will still plan on traveling a lot after this first year is over. Places to see; people to meet. Life to live; adventures await. It's just how we roll.

Thanks again for all your prayers and well wishes. it means everything to us.

Enjoy the pictures! We'll start with a few more from Quartzite..